THE 

VILLA AND COTTAGE 

FLORISTS' DIRECTORY: 

BEING A FAMILIAR TREATISE ON 
PARTICULARLY 

^f^t il^anagenient of tf^z best S>tage, Betr, atttr iSortret 
FLOWERS 

USUALLY CULTIVATED IN BRITAIN. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

DIRECTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF 

WITH THE 

DIFFERENT MODES OF RAISING AND PROPAGATING 

INTERSPERSED WITH MANY NEW PHYSIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 
AND VARIOUS USEFUL LISTS. 

SECOND EDITION. 

^ 

BY JAMES MAIN, A.L.S, 

4*- 



LONDON: 

WHITTAKER AND CO., AVE-MARIA LANE. 



1835. 




LONDON: 

PRINTED BY WILLTAIM CLOWES AND SONS, 
Diike Street, Lambeth. 



« 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface v 

Introduction 1 

Physiology of Bulbs 2 

Tubers 9 

Fibrous roots 11 

Of the Colour of Flowers 20 

Of the Scent 29 

Of Soils 31 

Of Coverings 40 

Of Insects ......... 45 

Of Diseases 50 

Cultivation of the Tulip 51 

Hyacinth 75 

_ Polyanthus-Narcissus .... 93 

Anemone 101 

Ranunculus 114 

Auricula 120 

= Polyanthus 147 

— Carnation 153 

■ Picotee 178 

— Pink 181 

Exotic Plants — Hot-house 189 

Green-house 209 

Conservatory 227 

Forcing-pit . 236 

Of the Lapidium, or Rock-work 238 

Of the Aquarium . . , 240 

Of the Physiology of Trees ....... 241 

A List of Border Flowers , , 279 

A Catalogue of esteemed sorts of Bulbs, &c. . . , 291 



PREFACE, 



Floriculture has become the study and 
amusement of all ranks. Is it because it em- 
bellishes the dwellings of the rich and great, or 
forms the gayest ornament of the villa ? Or is it 
because it receives the regard, and employs the 
pencils, of the most refined and fairest of Nature's 
works ? Yes ; for all these ; but, most of all, 
because it decorates, while it endears, the poor 
man's cottage. 

To the superior classes of society, who have 
" all appliances and means to boot,'' the know- 
ledge and possession of flowers form but a small 
part of their enjoyments; but the humble and 
homely man, who, when relieved from the ema- 
ciating toil and noxious air of a factory, betakes 
himself to the refreshing exercise of raising his 
favourite flowers, feels new life; his attention is 



vi PREFACE. 

drawn to objects which are beautiful in them- 
selves, and to results the most innocent and ra- 
tional. Turbulent emotions can hardly disturb 
the mind which is intent on rearing tender seed- 
lings ; the very expectations of success alleviate, 
if they cannot remove, the cares and crosses of 
life ; and while such employment, as amusement 
only, refines the mind, it adds not a little to the 
real enjoyment of rational existence. 

The knowledge of this fascinating art is mostly 
confined to professional men, or lies hidden in 
a thousand volumes, beyond the reach of the 
humble though ardent florist. He, and he 
only, needs the assistance which is practically 
offered in the following pages ; which, though 
written chiefly for those who are neither pro- 
fessional nor opulent, it is hoped will be not 
unworthy of a perusal by all who are interested 
in the subject. 

As to the ability of the writer for such a task, 
he may be permitted to say, that the experience of 
fifty years, directly and indirectly, in the cultiva- 
tion of flowers, is at least something in his favour. 



PREFACE. vii 

But, independently of this, it is impossible that he 
should have been contemporary with a Maddock, a 
Hogg, a Sweet, and many other eminent modern 
florists, without knowing somewhat of the art 
Where his own knowledge or practice may be 
defective or confined, his judgment at least will 
enable him to recommend with safety and direct 
with propriety. 

How this will be done remains to be seen. 
His intention is to condense the whole system of 
professional floriculture into a concise compen- 
dium, which will embrace every thing essential 
to the subject : and, as it will also contain direc- 
tions for the propagation of all sorts of tender 
exotic flowering plants, it will be particularly ser- 
viceable to those who have rare and valuable 
collections. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Before entering upon the methods of culture 
and management necessary for the different bed, 
border, and stage flowers intended to be briefly 
set forth in the pages of this work, it may be 
proper, perhaps, to advert to some circumstances 
which belong either to the knowledge of the 
plants themselves, or to particulars relative to 
their general treatment. By so doing, repe- 
titions will be avoided, and the directions will 
be less encumbered by collateral observations. 

As the principal part of our bed flowers are 
bulbs, it may not be irrelevant to describe the 
constituent parts of these curious vegetable 
bodies. Every florist should be acquainted with 
the physiology of the plants he cultivates ; for 
though not so absolutely necessary, perhaps 

to successful management, it may nevertheless^ 

...if 

B 



2 IXTRODUCTION. 
be useful in enabling- the practitioner to account 
for many circumstances which will occur in the 
course of his practice. 

Botanists have classed bulbs into the different 
distinctions of scaly, coated, solid, and caulinar. 

A scaly bulb is such as the common white lily. 
It consists of a vital membrane, called the radical 
plate or basis. This member appears to consist 
of an indefinite series of dividual germs, which 
are annually brought forth in succession. The 
first, or highest in order, is, in the autumn before 
it is developed, composed of a surrounding en- 
velope of thick fleshy bodies, like scales. These 
scales are abbreviated leaves ; the outer ones are 
stationary, doing the office of hybernacla ; while 
the inner are attached to the flower-stem, rise 
therewith, and are expanded into full form dur- 
ing the spring and summer. From the lower 
part of the radical plate, and particularly from 
its edges, the roots are produced ; which descend 
into the earth in search of the nutriment required 
for the expansion of the plant, and which mostly 
die off during the repose of the bulb. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

While these processes of the senior part of the 
radical plate are developed in the air, and the 
radicles or fibres in the earth, the next vital prin- 
ciple of the incipient series becomes every day 
larger in size, swelHng and protruding into form 
its imbricated envelopement of scales, resembUng 
a short cone, its apex containing the embryo 
fructification of the following year. Besides the 
second of this aggregation of principles, the third, 
fourth, or even more (according to the vigour of 
the plant) of the series, are sometimes produced, 
and which take the name of offsets, which may 
be separated without injury to the plant. This 
vital organ ahvays appears as belonging to the 
largest individual of the train, continuing to 
produce and throw off progeny ad infinitum. 

This curious organisation of the bulb is, when 
duly considered, truly astonishing ! that a ve- 
getable body, no bigger than a grain of mustard, 
should contain a train of distinct germs without 
number, and, in favourable circumstances, with- 
out end ; and which are always in a gradual 
tiain of progress; the first fully developed to 

B 2 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

perfection, and perishing this year, to be suc- 
ceeded in following years by the junior successors 
in endless train I 

A coated or tunicated bulb is exemplified in 
the hyacinth. This is a distinction without a 
difference ; it being only a pecuhar modification 
of the foregoing. The bulb being formed by the 
gouty bases of some of the last and this year's 
leaves, embracing those, together with the stem 
and flower, which are to be expanded in the 
next. 

These bulbs have also a radical base or plate, 
which produces the proper roots belonging to the 
senior portion of the plant then in the course of 
developement ; but which are deciduous soon 
after the decay of the stem and leaves. Thus 
shewing, that each division of the bulb is fur- 
nished with its own radical base, roots, leaves, 
stem, flower, and fruit. 

In the case of these or similar bulbs, if in any 
year they are permitted to perfect their seeds, the 
viviparous powers of the system are less active ; 
their formation, satisfying as it were the impulse 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

of reproduction possessed by that generative 
organ. On the contrary, when no seeds (which 
are the oviparous produce) are perfected, the 
effort at reproduction by offsets is increased. 
This observation should be always kept in mind 
by the florist, in order that he may have re- 
course to it when necessary for the purpose of 
increasing either seeds or offsets, as he may wish. 

Solid bulbs have been described by botanical 
physiologists, and the tuhp is given as an in- 
stance (JPrincipia Botanicd). But this is a mis- 
take ; the bulb being evidently composed of ab- 
breviated leaves, enclosed within a thin integu- 
ment or covering, similar to the hyacinth, only 
fewer in number. These leaves are mostly 
elongated, and accompany the rising stem to 
which they peculiarly belong ; in which effort 
they become exhausted, and die along with the 
stem, or when the seeds are ripe. During the 
growth of the parts just mentioned, as well as of 
the roots which supported them, the next year's 
bulb is formed to carry on the succession. It 
has been advanced by some writers, that the 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

principal use of the expanded leaves is to elaborate 
nutritious materials for the formation of the suc- 
ceeding next year's bulb ; or, that the substance 
of the old is somehow transferred into the new 
one. This idea is at least questionable ; because 
the bulb of the tulip lying in a drawer, where no 
developement or expansion of leaves can take 
place, will, notwithstanding, put forth its new 
offset bulbs, with no other assistance than what 
its feeble fibres, produced at the same time, can 
collect in this unnatural situation ; and if it be 
intended to produce a numerous progeny of offsets, 
half the old bulb (the upper half) is cut off before 
it is planted, to produce this effect. Young 
tubers, as the potatoe, are produced without the 
assistance of leaves. True it is, that when a 
part, or the whole organisation of a plant is in 
motion, there is a reciprocity of assistance from 
any one to all the others ; but this does not 
appear to be the peculiar office of the leaves more 
than it is that of the roots, if indeed so much. 
Checking the oviparous principle will stimulate 
the viviparous, or vice versa. But, except re- 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

ducing th€ number of parts or ramifications of a 
plant for the benefit of the remainder, no kind of 
mutilation can be serviceable. 

Bringing to perfection the roots, stem, leaves^ 
flowers, and the new bulb or bulbs, is the effort 
of the radical plate every year; it being the 
radius from which they all diverge. There they 
previously exist, and, after complete develope- 
ment, all but their seeds, or su€cession-bulbs, 
vanish away. 

Caulinar bulbs are so called, because, instead 
of being upon or under the surface of the ground, 
they are produced in the air and seated on dif- 
ferent parts of plants producing them. They are 
frequently seen on the flower-stems of the ge- 
nus Lilivm, protruding from the axils of the 
leaves from which they are deciduous. They 
partake of the conformation of both seeds and 
bulbs, possess their essentials, and l)ecome perfect 
plants. Bulbs are said to be buds under ground ; 
so buds may be called bulbs out of the ground. 
There cannot be a more natural definition ; both 
|xiay: be transferred from one station to another 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

uninjured, and both contain the pre-requi sites of 
perfect plants. The stem-bulbs of the lilly, as 
they take the usual place of buds, may very 
naturally be considered as such. 

Bulbs and buds may therefore be considered 
as synonymous. The first only requires to be 
placed in the soil to produce a perfect plant ; the 
second to be inserted into the bark of another 
tree by the skill of the inoculator, whence it is 
developed in perfect form. 

Other instances of aerial bulbs appear on the 
tree onion, and on several others of the same 
tribe. These, however, are no other than the 
seeds commencing growth before they are sepa- 
rated from the seed-vessel. Though this vivi- 
parous property is constantly seen among the 
onion tribe, and particularly in moist seasons, 
it is also casually observed in other kinds of 
plants ; even common wheat will sometimes 
sprout before it is perfectly ripe. 

But the most rema,rkable instance of the for- 
mation of bulbs is that mentioned in the Trans- 
actions of the Horticultural Society, stating^ 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

that from a broken leaf of the Lachenalea discolor^ 
perfect bulbs were formed from the oozing sap ! 
There are other instances of this generative 
powerof plants, as exemplified in the Hcemanthus^ 
the malaxis^ and ornithogalum. Buds are always 
seated on or proceed from the woody or vascular 
tissue of the plant ; and those above-mentioned, 
though not woody, contain vascular membrane 
in their leaves, partaking of the nature of stems ; 
these, therefore, when under favourable circum- 
stances, or thrown out of their regular course 
of developement by accident, exhibit those un- 
common modes of reproduction. 

The other descriptions of flower-roots are the 
tuberous and fibrous. Tubers, according to their 
form and divisions, are characterised by different 
appellations ; as irregular, truncated, digitated, 
jointed, &c. 

The irregular tuber is exemplified in the ane- 
mone. It increases itself by the protrusion of 
blunt processes from the first seed-tubercle, 
each containing buds which in time come into 
action. The vital principle is not always seated 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

at the point of these divisions, but on the sides ; 
from these the leaves and flower-stems arise in 
greater or lesser numbers and strength, according 
to the size and health of the principal tuber. 
The fibres for collecting food issue from various 
parts of the tuber, and die off annually. 

The ranunculus presents what is called a 
digitate, or finger-formed tuber. These finger- 
shaped appendages are produced in succession ; 
and seem to be depositories of the food of the 
plant. The crown divides itself by lateral branches 
fi-om what may be called its shoulder ; the young 
offsets being almost always somewhat higher 
than the parent when this happens to be placed 
too deep, or lower, if not deep enough. When 
these offsets have formed one or two fingers, 
they may be separated from the original, and 
henceforth become distinct plants. 

The truncated tuber is shewn in the poly- 
anthus and auricula. That of the former remains 
in a compact form, throwing out radicles below, 
and its leaves and flower- stems from the crown 
above, developing themselves in> succession^ 



INTRODUCTIOX. 11 

The tuber of the latter is more elongated, rising 
out of the ground and increasing itself by side- 
shoots crowned with leaves, which, being slipped 
off, become new plants. 

The bundled or pendulous tuber is that of 
the Dahlia^ &c. The lateral tubers are vivi- 
parous progeny, and are produced at the same 
time the principal is developed, each having one 
or more buds on or near the apex. 

Fibrous roots, or those having neither bulb 
nor tuber, are well exemplified in the pink and 
carnation. From the under-side and edges of 
the crown, thread-like fibres descend and spread 
themselves around; they are also divided and 
subdivided, in their progress, into very many 
slender filaments. The crown of such kinds of 
plants is a flattened conical body, composed of 
many smaller ones, the bases of partly advanced 
or incipient shoots, each surrounded by several 
pairs of radical leaves, which mostly remain sta- 
tionary on the body of the parent plant. The 
younger leaves are seated on, and rise in pairs 
with the flower-stems; these last being elongated 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

by the growth of the internodial parts. Accord- 
ing to the strength or age of the plant, a greater 
or lesser number of flower-stems rise, blow^, and 
die. The rest remain till the next or following 
years ; and of these layers, cuttings, or pipings, 
are made for the purpose of propagation. 

All roots, whether designated fibrous, bulbous, 
or tuberous, put forth thread-like fibres, which are 
the chief agents for collecting the nutritious 
qualities from the earth for the use of the plants. 
They are of very curious and delicate structure, 
impatient of dry air, or of any change of tem- 
perature or humidity. Their growth is always 
cotemporary with the other motions of the plant, 
and, indeed, the ascending and descending ex- 
pansion of vegetable life seem to receive counter 
impulses from each other. Fibres cannot be 
produced, it appears, without some internal force 
or excitement ; so neither can any material ex- 
pansion talvc place in the air but by their as- 
sistance. The tender shoots and some of the 
fibres of shrubs and trees become woody in time ; 
but, in most kinds of bed and border flowers, 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

the active fibres are renewed and shed annually. 
Some are thick and of considerable length, as 
narcissus and hyacinth ; others are extremely 
attenuated. 

It has been a question among florists, how far 
the flower and leaves of a plant are nourished by 
its bulb or tuber, that is, whether they yield 
nourishment as well as protection. The outer 
coverings of narcissus, hyacinths, bulbous iris, 
&c. appear to be only the remains of former or 
unexpanded leaves, which continue to act as a 
covering, as before observed, till the slough of 
the radical plate from which they sprung falls 
off. The interior of these bulbs is occupied by 
the flower, stem, and leaves, in the winter; all 
of which are expanded in the spring and summer. 
As these go forth, their former space is gradually 
filled by the next year's bulb. Now, all these 
expanding parts being previously formed, their 
developement cannot be said to depend entirely 
on themselves, but on some other part of the 
system which can assist their expansion, namely, 
the root?, which imbibe elemental food. Can 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

the growing parts derive any benefit from the 
outer covering", except protection ? most probably 
none. With the new bulb the older one, which 
is in the act of expanding*, has no other con- 
nexion than being seated on the same base. 

From the fibrous roots chiefly, and from the 
qualities and influences of the air on the exposed 
parts, are derived all the nutriment required by 
the expanding parts, as well as the smaller por- 
tion required by the incipient bulb. When the 
stem and leaves are withered, their bases are 
compressed and pushed aside by the new-formed 
bulb, and their wasted remains are lost in the 
exterior envelope. The tulip is not, like the 
foregoing, constantly invested with the remains 
of former leaves ; they are completely exhausted 
in the summer growth, and the new bulb is only 
left covered by a thin integument. 

The changes w^hich take place in permanent 
tubers, such as the anemone, are not so easily 
detected as those in bulbs. That they are not 
diminished in volume by the production of their 
summer growth is manifest from the circum- 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

stance, that they are increased in magnitude 
during that period. It is true, that the places of 
the first developed buds are the first to decay ; 
but then the new buds become more numerous 
and dispersed over the enlarged body of the tuber 

Fugitive or annual tubers are such as the 
orchis. They are perennial by succession, not 
by duration, like the anemone. A single tuber, 
before its developement, contains two distinct 
principles; the first is expanded in the air, to 
produce seed ; the second is formed into a new 
tuber in the earth, to be perfected into leaves 
and stem, &c. the following year. When the 
first has ripened its seed, the whole dies ; leaving 
its successor completely formed, to undergo the 
like changes in due time ; so that, in fact, it is 
only a modification of perpetual reproduction to 
continue existence. 

But all tubers, whether permanent or fugitive, 
are furnished with active fibres, which mainly, 
if not entirely, assist in furnishing the necessary 
supphes for expansion of the plant, whether in 
the air or in the earth. 



hi INTKUDUCTIOX. 

The duratiuu ot" iiuwer and other routs is 
commonly designated by the terms annual, bien- 
nial, and perennial. 

Annuals, properly so called, are such as per- 
petuate themselves by seeds only ; the whole 
plant dying when these are perfected. Some of 
this description, however, may be pei^etuated by 
art, perhaps, for ever, were it a necessary ex- 
pedient ; for instance, the balsam among flowers, 
and the melon and cucumber among cultivated 
fruit. Annual bulbs are exemplified in the cro- 
cus ; and annual tubers are such as the orchis 
and potatoe. In these instances the identity 
vanishes ; that is, the tuber of this year perishes 
along with the leaves and stem, while a new 
tuber or tubers are formed. Certain parts of 
almost all plants are annual or temporary as to 
existence ; the fibres, perhaps, of all plants w^hich 
are seasonal ; — bulbs and tubers as above noticed; 
— the flower-stems of all perennial herbs ; — and 
the leaves, flowers, and fruit of shrubs and trees. 

We remember no instance of biennial roots 
in the flower garden ; but, among culinary vege- 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

tables, the turnip and carrot, tubers differing 
only in form, are examples. If the seeds of these 
plants be sown when Nature intends they should, 
viz. when they are ripe, the plants are half 
formed in the autumn of the first, and perfected 
in the summer of the following year. It is said 
that the size of these bulbs or tubers are en- 
larged by the action of their system of foliage ; 
this geneYa,tiug and throwing down supplies which 
are destined to swell the bulbs and perfect the 
seeds in the ensuing season. For this purpose 
it is said the leaf-stalks are provided with de- 
scending sap-vessels in the first, though they 
must be unnecessary in the second, year of their 
growth. The knowledge of this remarkable 
change in the petiole of the leaves is a discovery 
of microscopic examination. To naked practical 
eyes this formation is never visible ; and when 
this doctrine is practically considered, we must 
conclude therefrom, that all individual plants, 
having the largest growth of leaves, must also 
have the largest roots. But the reverse of this 



18 INTRODUCTION'. 

is the case, especially with regard to the two 
roots above mentioned, as well as the radish and 
many others. The last-named tuber, and turnip 
also, are either annuals or biennials according 
to the time of the year they are sown. 

Perennial flower-roots assume very many dif- 
ferent habits. By duration, as the anemone, 
which is propagated by enlargement of the 
tuber, in which there is an annual subdivision of 
the crown. The ranunculus is perennial, partly 
by duration and by offsets. The hyacinth, tulip, 
&c. are perennial, from containing in their ra- 
dical plate an interminable series of individuals, 
which are developed in succession. Fibrous- 
rooted flowers are perennial by multiplication of 
their crowns, diverging from the first centre. 

The modes of increase are also various. Dis- 
tinct tubers are in some instances produced on 
the lower part of the stem, and just above that 
of the former year, as crocus, gladiolus, &c. At 
the lower part, as in some sorts of arum ; — from 
the body in irregular processes, as anemone ; — 



liNTRODUCTION. 19 

at the shoulders, as ranunculus ; — and at the 
edges of the radical plate, as in bulbs and many 
other herbaceous plants. 

That the flower-stem rises from, and is closely 
connected with, the crown of the plate in nar- 
cissus, is manifest from the circumstance, that if 
the peduncle or flower-stem be forcibly pulled 
out of its socket before the flower expands, and 
immediately planted in the ground, it will not 
only produce fibres to enable it to perfect the 
bloom, but also be based by a new bulb, which 
will become a perfect plant. 

Bulbous-rooted plants, which seldom produce 
offsets, may be excited so to do, as before ob- 
served, by slicing off the upper half of the bulb. 
This mutilation, taking away the demands of the 
flower and leaves, gives an energy to the vivi- 
parous principle which sends forth little bulbs 
from the sides of the plate, as in hyacinth, or at 
the margin of the outer coat, as in hsemanthus. 



20 



INTRODUCTION. 



OF THE COLOUR OF FLOWERS. 

Colours are said to be the gift of light, or of 
the form of the reflecting surfaces, or rather of 
the position of the atoms which compose the 
surfaces of bodies. The same substances reflect 
different rays of light according as they are 
changed in position, exterior form, or constitu- 
tional texture. Natural productions are variously 
composed, and accordingly reflect almost all the 
various rays which compose the stream of light. 
Hence the variety of the chromule, or colours of 
flowers, and of the different shades of colour in 
the same flower. And though the substance of 
a variegated petal appears to the eye as perfectly 
uniform in its texture, and though no microsco- 
pic assistance can detect the difference in the 
coloured matter, yet we may be certain that a 
difference exists, and also that it is a transferable 
quality. The least pressure or touch on a de- 
licate vegetable body instantly changes, in some 
cases, one tint to that of another. 



iMTRODUCTION. 21 

We are almost ignorant of the cause of these 
different conformations. Philosophers assert 
that not a particle of light can be lost, but only 
changed by entering into chemical combination 
with other bodies, and producing, by means of 
oxygen, a certain acidification of the colourable 
recipients. Florists have long wished for the 
power to change, as they could wish, the colours 
of their flowers. Some approach has been made 
towards the accomplishment of this desirable 
faculty in some few cases; and there is no doubt 
but that, in time, such discoveries will be made 
as will in some measure invest the florist with 
this necessary knowledge. 

By art we can change the colours and forms 
of flowers, and give new qualities to fruit, by 
the well-known expedient of cross impregnation 
(which shall be fully described in the sequel) ; 
but in the case of full flowers, which rarely ad- 
mit of such manipulation, recourse must be had 
to other expedients, and which, it is presumed, 
will sooner or later be furnished by the excellent 
science of chemistry. 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

The rimniDg of fine double flowers, that is> 
suddenly returning to their whole or original 
colour, has long been the plague and puzzle of 
florists. They have never been able to account 
for the circumstance satisfactorily. Some ima- 
gine that the change is caused by too much or 
too rich dress ; others assert that an over-lean 
or sandy soil produces the same effect ; and it 
appears clearly proved, that in very dry and 
warm summers such mutations of colour take 
place, even more extensively than in ordinary 
seasons. 

As relating to this circumstance, may be men- 
tioned a very general opinion amongst the culti- 
vators of flowers, that the richer the soil the 
deeper will be the tints of the bloom. The co- 
lour of the hydrangea hortensis can be changed 
by the qualities of the mould in which it is 
placed ; and the natural colour of the common 
primrose is very soon changed to a pink or yel- 
lowish brown by being planted in cow-dung. 
On this account it is, that the pure droppings of 
animals have always been preferred as a princi- 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

pal ingredient in flower composts ; because ob- 
servation and experience have proved, that the 
tints of flowers become more vivid from the qua- 
lities contained in such substances. Chemists 
tell us that oxygen gas gives colour and scent to 
flowers and leaves, as well as to every other part 
of vegetables. An analysis of the compost in 
which they succeed best would greatly assist the 
florist ; indeed, it may be presumed that chemis- 
try applied to floriculture would be productive 
of the best results. I know not a better o})por- 
tunity afforded to a chemist, who may be fond of 
flowers, than the usual custom of growing bulbs 
in water. With them he might try many ex- 
periments, by impregnating the water with va- 
rious chemical bodies, and marking the results. 
I have never tried such experiments myself, but 
recommend them to the notice of the curious. 

The mutability of the colours of flowers in 
cultivation has been long noticed by naturalists. 
M. Decandolle, a French botanist of eminence, 
has written on this subject ; and has particularly 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

marked the transitions of one colour to another. 
He says, — 

" The colours of flowers are variable, but only 
within certain limits. Lively yellow are the 
least variable ; dull yellow in general become 
white or red, but never blue ;" and adds, that it 
is not likely we shall ever see a blue Dahlia. 

In proportion as plants are cultivated, and 
undergo the constant and various manipulations 
of the florist, so are they changed in habit and 
colour. Bulbs, as being of all others most easily 
transported, and yielding readily their fine con- 
spicuous flowers, have always had an extra share 
of the care and regard of mankind. Placed in 
closely planted order in the garden, they imparted 
and received all the chances and influence of 
cross impregnation by accident. As favourites, 
they had always the best and richest composts to 
invigorate and encourage them, and in which 
various qualities existed that would change their 
natural hues, or add to the brilliancy of their 
original colours. These circumstances suffi- 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

cienlly account for the vast variety of forms and 
colours among our stage, bed, and border flowers 
now in cultivation ; and from these consequences 
it may safely be predicted, that all our new or 
lately introduced bulbs, still bearing their natural 
forms and colours, may be, by artificial manage- 
ment, changed and broken into all the variations 
of colour, of which, according to M. Decandolle, 
they are susceptible. 

In former times, when the botanical philoso- 
pher was called upon to account for the variega- 
tion of the leaves or flowers of plants, he answered 
that it was owing to a disease in the habit. If 
it be a disease, it is a mild one ; the growth or 
stature of the plant is not affected ; and it is not 
until it gets aged that the imputed malady 
generally disappears. Like a disease, it is trans- 
ferable from one plant to another ; and must be 
either a malformation of the structure, or a change 
of the qualities of the sap. If of the former, the 
change of tint, which depends on form, may be 
rationally accounted for ; but if of the latter, it 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

becomes a puzzling question, as connected with 
other physiological facts. 

In breaking flowers by impregnation the fol- 
lowing means must be used. Any flower of a 
fine form and size, but destitute of high or deep 
colour, is fixed on to be improved ; and also the 
high-coloured flower whose tints are wished to 
be imparted. The two parents are such as it is 
likely will blow on the same day. If both are 
well watered (if needful) the day previous, it will 
assist the operation. Soon as the plant destined 
to be the female opens its blossom in the morning, 
let it be immediately deprived of its own stamens 
by a pair of fine pointed scissors. 

Soon as its stigma or stigmas are fully de- 
veloped, which may be known by their glisten- 
ing appearance, bring the ripe stamens of the 
intended male parent, and therewith dust and 
cover the stigmas of the female, and immediately 
shade from direct sunshine, and shelter from 
wind, if either be necessary. This should be 
repeated several times in the course of the same 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

and following day. If the impregnation has 
taken place, the flower will soon fade ; but if not, 
it will remain longer in vigour ; in which case 
the stigmata may be again dusted with pollen to 
ensure success. The pod or pods so impreg- 
nated should have every care bestowed to bring 
the seeds to perfection, by being kept guarded 
from accidents and from exhaustion by other 
pods on the plant. 

Should seeds come to perfection, be sowed, 
grow, and be reared to a flowering state, the 
major part of them will be found to have inherited 
the form and size of the mother, and blended 
with or wholly of the colour of the father plant. 
In most plants which have been subjected to this 
process, the result is very uniformly as above 
stated. It is a curious and interesting expe- 
dient, and particularly useful to the commercial 
florist. It gives scope for the most extensive 
improvements in floriculture : it presents a pros- 
pect of how much Nature may be varied and 
improved by art, and of the flower-gardens of 
futurity, which will be embellished by new de- 



28. INTRODUCTION. 

scriptions of floral beauty, never hitherto con- 
templated by the most enthusiastic of Flora's 
votaries. 

All flowering plants which perfect the two 
most essentia] parts of fructification, viz. the 
stamens and stigma, whether single or semi- 
double, are capable of being fecundified in a lesser 
or greater degree by each other. The families of 
lilies, pinks, &c. &c. are particularly susceptible 
of such manipulation; and though the Dutch, 
French, and several English florists have brought 
cross-impregnation to great perfection, the art 
may be said to be still in its infancy. 

The aim and objects of the florist are very 
different from those of the mere botanist and 
such as are admirers of simple unassisted Nature 
only. By the latter, double flowers are considered 
monstrous — as aberrations from the simple 
elegance of Nature. But as admiration is be- 
stowed on every branch of imitative art, why 
should not the talent and ingenuity of the florist 
receive his share of commendation for the pro- 
duction of reahties, which is so readily given to 



INTRODUCTIOX. 29 

and lavishly bestowed on pencilled representations 
of the same objects ? Monstrosities in animate 
nature can yield no pure pleasurable ideas ; 
lliey are only valued, from motives of curiosity, 
for their singularity as a lusus naturae ; but such 
incidents in the flow^er- garden are surely admis- 
sible ; for there they are only an exuberance of 
elegance, in forms and colours ; in short, an 
excess of svi^eetness. Flowers, indeed, may be 
uninviting or uninteresting ; but they never can 
be positively ugly. 



OF THE SCENT OR AROMA OF 
FLOWERS. 

The fragrance is one of the most attractive 
and agreeable properties of flowers. Some plants 
emit an odoriferous effluvia from their leaves and 
stems at all times ; but it is chiefly while they 
are most interesting to the sight that they are also 
most delightful to the smell. Many flowers are 
scentless, and several are disagreeable ; but the 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

great majority of them, if not extremely fragrant, 
are always in some degree refreshing to the sense. 

As the atmosphere conveys this quality to a 
considerable distance, it must be a fugitive body 
sufficiently material, though invisible, to be in- 
corporated with common air in a gaseous or 
other highly refined state. It seems to be yielded 
most intensely from the centre of the flower ; 
hence it has been supposed to be a ivind of 
vapour from the honey or nectar ; but it is also 
contained in the other parts, as detached calyces, 
petals, stamens, style, and pericarp, as well as the 
seeds, which carry with them the aroma more or 
less intense. 

Scent may be discharged and transferred by 
contact, detrition, maceration, dilution, &c., and 
combined with other substances, in which it may 
be preserved ; of course, it is intimately united 
to the essential oils, aqueous juices, or fibrous 
components of the plant. 

The state of the air has considerable influence 
in regard to the intensity of floral scent. In a 
fine, still, dewy morning, the air is a,s it were 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

surcharged with it ; but soon as the sun's heat 
increases evaporation, or should sweeping winds 
prevail, the scent is dispersed far and wide. 

A curious circumstance, lately noticed, shows 
that the fragrance of flowers is capable of being 
exalted by qualities placed, or which happen to 
be, in the near neighbourhood. Onions growing 
near roses improve their scent. This seems to 
be a proof that there is an intro-susception of 
the extraneous quality ; and, moreover, confirms 
the old idea, that strong or pungent applications 
to the roots exalt, not only the colour, but the 
scent also. 

It has been noticed, of the common ever- 
flowering Chinese rose, that, when first introduced, 
about 1793, it was, as the little darker- red one 
still is, almost scentless ; though now, 1829, with 
many of its varieties, highly fragrant. 



OF SOILS 

The surface of our planet is composed of 
various descriptions of matter, all arranged and 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

disposed by the action of tire and water. These 
deposits declare the universality, force, and direc- 
tion of a general mighty current, and also the 
courses and effects of partial currents, generated 
.while the waters were receding from the deluged 
earth. The eastern sides of all mountains, hills, 
or any considerable elevation of surface, are less 
precipitous than the western ; the latter being 
more abrupt and washed bare by the general 
current, which evidently fiow^ed from the west. 
Hence we find the finest of the detritus of the 
antediluvian surface carried to, and deposited on, 
the eastern slopes, especially that description of 
soil called loam. It also appears that, during the 
time when the flood was passing off, partial cur- 
rents were in action, falling from the higher to 
the lower ground. The larger valleys were 
partly formed by, w^hile they conveyed, the larger 
currents ; receiving the inferior streams along 
their sides ; these forming smaller valleys, ravines, 
and all those beautiful undulations of surface 
which exist at this day. 

The depth and rapidity of a current gives cha- 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

racter to its channel. If deep and slow, whatever 
particles of earth it contains are deposited in the 
consistence of mud. If shallow and rapid, the 
lighter earthy matter is washed away, and the 
bottom is covered with stones, v/hich become 
boldered by their action on each other. So the 
surface of the earth is now found to be sand, 
gravel, loam, clay, or bare rock, according to the 
depth or rapidity of the currents which passed, 
and in passing deposited them. 

Although the general surface was formed by 
the action of the deluge, there has been formed, 
since, other descriptions of soil, which are parti- 
cularly useful in the cultivation of flowers, and 
which will be noticed in their place. 

Sand, — This is composed of stones of the 
smallest dimensions, equal in size and figure, 
semi-transparent, and light enough to be carried 
along by action of water, which washes it clean 
from other earthy matter, and deposits it in 
beds below the shelves of the channel. It is a 
residuum from lighter earths, or the detritus 
of rock or gravel, separated by a lively current, 

D 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

and precipitated when the current is in a certain 
degree moderated. It is found of many different 
colours ; contains but little vegetable food ; but 
is an indispensable component in all composts. 
The pure white, or lightest coloured, usually 
found on commons, is the best for the florists 
and all horticultural purposes : the deep-brown 
or black, often containing ferruginous qualities, 
is hurtful to most plants. Sea or river sand 
may sometimes be used with propriety and ad- 
vantage when pure pit sand cannot be had. 

Clay — In its general character, is composed 
of very minute particles of earth reduced to their 
ultimate degree of fineness ; consequently closely 
compacted, adhesive, impervious to air or water; 
hardens in the sun, and burns to a red earth. 
Clay is changed into loam by cultivation, and 
the addition of sand, lime, and other friable sub- 
stances. 

Loam. — Soils, commonly so called, are supe- 
rior to all other for the purposes of the florist. 
It is a well-proportioned mixture of fine clay 
and sand, containing as much of the former as 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

gives mellow compactness, and no more of the 
latter than makes it sufficiently absorbent of 
water and receptive of every influence from the 
atmosphere. It is usually found of considerable 
depth, and reposing on rock, or clay, and some- 
times, though more rarely, on gravel. Loam, in 
its natural state, is of various colours ; on some 
elevated situations it is red; in valleys, it is 
almost black ; but on gentle declivities, pale 
brown or hazel. That best suited to the culture 
of flowers is found in old pastures, on commons, 
and in natural woodlands ; either composing the 
surface, or in pits of considerable depth. When 
obtained pure from such wastes it is called 
maiden loam, because it has not been exhausted 
by crops, and because it contains a certain quality 
which has yet no name among cultivators ; a 
quahty, which is, beyond all others, favourable to 
vegetation — this luxuriating when that is pre- 
sent, and failing when it is fled. This maiden 
quality exists in different degrees in all kinds of 
loam, and indeed in all kinds of soil when first 
broken up. 

D 2 



36 INTRODUCTION. 

Marl — Is a species of clay or loam mixed 
with lime, and often very suitable for forming- 
heavy composts. 

Bog^ moss, or peat earth — Is not a diluvial 
deposit, but an accumulation of decayed vege- 
table matter, in hollows of stagnant water. 
This should be very cautiously employed by the 
florist, and never but as a medium for other 
qualities, after its own hurtful principles have 
been dissipated. 

Moor earth — Is that thin turf of fine sand 
and decayed vegetable matter found on com- 
mons or waste land where heath usually and 
naturally grows. This is the favourite soil of a 
very numerous and beautiful division of plants, 
and is an indispensable auxiliary of the florist. 
Where it cannot be conveniently obtained, it 
may be well imitated by mixing equal parts of 
fine white sand and leaf mould. 

Leaf mould. — This is composed entirely of 
rotten leaves, decayed wood, twigs, bark, and 
other wreck of vegetation. It may be found in 
old saw-pits, in woods, or procured by collecting 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

leaves in the autumn, keeping* them heaped to- 
gether in a pit or shady place, and, if occasionally 
moistened with manured water to hasten decom- 
position, a most valuable material would be ob- 
tained for every purpose of the florist. 

These are the various soils and substances 
which Nature presents to the horticulturalist, and 
of which, and other substances, he compounds 
his composts, according to their nature and capa- 
bihties of receiving assistance from art. That 
different plants require different descriptions of 
soil is an universally acknowledged fact. When 
a plant is first taken into cultivation, the culti- 
vator generally takes a lesson from Nature, parti- 
cularly as to the kind and qualities of the soil of 
the native habitat ; rightly judging that his 
artificial compost should be similar, in order to 
expect and secure success in the management. 
And though an exact resemblance in constitu- 
tion and quality would be sufficient for the mere 
existence and ordinary growth of the plant so 
translocated, yet the florist is not merely content 
with its existence : he will study to pamper it 



38 INTRODUCTION. 

into extraordinary growth — to increase the mag- 
nitude of its flowers — heighten or vary its colours 
— and augment the number of its offspring. 
For these purposes, he supplies his favourite, not 
only with the simple materials of its native bed, 
but each constituent in increased proportion. 

The proper application of these succedaneums 
is the result of observation and experience. It 
is a specific portion of horticultural knowledge 
which has descended from former to the present 
race of florists ; and that it may be more widely 
known, and handed down to posterity, is one 
purpose of this little work. 

The pre-requi sites of flower-beds and com- 
posts, are depth, friability, and necessary rich- 
ness. 

The practice of trenching the sites of flower- 
beds to the depth of three feet is found to be 
of great service ; not that any of the fibrous 
roots can reach so low, but because the bed 
should be quickly drained after much rain, and 
that in dry weather the roots may be invited to 
run as deep as they have a tendency to go 



INTRODUCTION. 39 

There is another reason for deep trenching, 
which is no doubt as beneficial to flowers as it 
is to all other plants ; viz. they receive a greater 
share of that genial moist warmth which is at 
all times rising from the interior of the earth to 
its surface. This is a circumstance not enough 
attended to; and by many practitioners quite 
unheeded : it is, nevertheless, a great assistant 
to vegetation. According as we descend, the 
temperature increases. In the winter and spring 
months, it is by several degrees warmer at 
the depth of three feet than at or near the 
surface. The ground being opened to that 
depth, therefore, permits the ascent of this warm 
steam in cold weather, and allows it to rise like 
a refreshing vapour when the weather is hot and 
dry ; in both seasons of much advantage to the 
roots. 

Friability, — That flowers may have every en- 
couragement from the constitutional texture of 
the compost they are placed on, it is prepared by 
being compounded, aerated, and screened, till it 
is free from stones, clods, 6:c. and all of a uniform 



40 INTRODUCTION. 

consistence. It should not be liable to knead in 
working, nor run together under heavy rain. By 
the addition of sand, rotten dung, or leaf mould, 
it must be sufficiently porous to receive, and as 
readily discharge, any excess of water, as well as 
allow the penetration of every quality from the 
air, which is beneficial to plants. 

Enriching. — The high fertility of the soil in- 
tended for flowers is one of the principal pro- 
visions to be made for their prosperity. In the 
compost every ingredient should be present that 
experience has discovered to be useful, and every 
quality added which successful practice sanctions, 
or even what rational ingenuity may suggest. 
The luxuriance of the plants depends on the 
suitableness and temperament of the compost ; 
and the richness of the tints depends on the qua- 
lities contained in it. 



OF COVERINGS, STAGES, &c. 

For the defence of fine bed-flowers from in- 
clement weather, and to preserve them in beauty 



INTRODUCTION. 41 

as long" as possible, the florist who wishes to excel 
ill the art, and derive the utmost satisfaction from 
the pursuit, should provide himself with every 
necessary appendage for the purpose. The means 
of temporary protection against rain, hail, or 
snow, and awnings for the preservation of the 
full-blown flowers, are both necessary. 

Stages, as well as beds, require these apper- 
tinents. Few lovers of flowers, who take delight 
in their cultivation, can grudge the expense of 
proper means for both shade and shelter. Com- 
mercial florists have arrangements for these pur- 
poses on an extensive scale, embracing all the 
advantages of convenience and utility : the ama- 
teur, or flower-fancier, adopts as much of these 
contrivances as is sufficient for his more limited 
designs. 

For all bed-flowers, particularly hyacinths 
and tuHps, the beds should be surrounded by 
boarding from twelve to thirty-six inches high, 
to give, for ease of examination, the necessary 
elevation to the flowers. Staples driven in at 
the corners and along the sides of this boarding 



42 INTRODUCTION. 

serve to admit wooden or iron hoops, which, 
connected along the centre and at the eaves with 
slight laths, form a sufficiently firm and effective 
frame to bear any covering of mats or canvass. 

Carnation stages are either single or double ; 
that is, having one or both sides composed of 
graduated shelves. In the one case, a walk in 
front is sufficient; in the other, the walk is 
carried all round. Those for auriculas are 
similar ; both being raised on feet, each of 
which stands in pans of water, to prevent the 
visits of creeping insects, which very frequently 
molest the florist. 

When the foliage of the plants has advanced 
so far as to be in jeopardy from frost, &c. the 
hoops are placed, and the coverings got ready to 
be employed as the weather directs. Tulips are, 
much more than others, liable to be injured, es- 
pecially during the months of February, March, 
and April. They are then most easily damaged 
by hail, or by water resting near and afterwards 
frozen round the flower-bud ; and, though every 
care should be bestowed to protect the plants 



INTRODUCTION. 43 

from such casualties, yet they must not be de- 
prived of the full air too long at a time, as this 
would injure by enfeebling them. So much is 
over-covering to be guarded against, that some 
most intelligent cultivators use only small-meshed 
nets as a defence, which they maintain is suffi- 
cient against every change of weather. 

When the flowers begin to show colour, pre- 
parations must be made to erect the awning. 
This is intended to shade them from the sun, and 
shelter them from high winds. The frame should 
be as light in its construction as is consistent 
with its stability against blowing weather. It 
is either a permanent erection of slender columns, 
eaves-plate, rafters, and ridge-board, or a tem- 
porary framing of similar scantlings, screw-bolted 
together for the purpose. The former are pre- 
ferred by the commercial florist ; the latter by 
private growers. 

No directions need be given for a permanent 
structure that any common carpenter can sup- 
ply and execute. But for those who only need 
a temporary thing of the kind, the following 



44 INTRODUCTION. 

description of a very suitable and convenient one 
may be useful. 

The bed is surrounded by a fine g-ravel or sand 
walk, two and a half feet wide : on the outside 
of the walk, oaken trunks, sixteen inches long, 
having" central openings two inches square, are 
sunk and firmly rammed in the ground, their 
tops level therewith. These trunks have each a 
capped stopper, to be put in when the frame is 
taken away ; they remaining always in their 
places, and serve as sockets to receive light 
columns six feet high, turned out of three-inch- 
square stuff, having a two-inch- square tenon to 
fit into the trunk, and also a smaller tenon at 
top, to pass through the eaves-plate, and also 
receive the foot of the rafter which rests upon it. 
The rafters meet on a ridge-board to which they 
are fastened by a screw-bolt and nut. Besides 
the corner columns, intermediate ones are added 
according as the length of the bed requires. 

The canvass for the roof is in one piece, fixed 
by its middle to the ridge-board ; the two sides 
being moveable on rollers or otherwise, and rolled 



INTRODUCTION. 45 

up or let down at pleasure. The ends and sides 
are closed by curtains, and hung- on headed studs 
driven into the end rafters and eaves-plate, by 
eyelet-holes v/orked in the upper leech of the cur- 
tains; at the bottom, they are fastened down by 
tenter-hooks or ties. Such a frame and awning;, 
if care be taken to lay it up dry in a spare room, 
will last for many years ; and, when in use, may 
be made, by ornaments fixed at the ends of the 
ridge and at the tops of the columns, not at all 
an unsightly object, even in the flov/er-garden. 



OF INSECTS, &c. DESTRUCTIVE TO 
FLOWERS. 

The florist has continually to guard against 
the depredations of enemies that feast on and 
disfigure his choice flowers. Snails {Helix) and 
slugs (Limax agrestis) are the most common and 
destructive to both flowers and foliage. They 
are easiest got rid of by watering the ground or 
places where they harbour with lime or salted 



46 INTRODUCTION. 

water ; care being taken that the last be not too 
strong, nor reach the roots of the plants in any 
great quantity. Another most effectual remedy 
s dusting the plants and ground among them 
with hot lime. The most convenient way of 
doing this is by putting recently slacked lime 
into a small bag, about eighteen inches long, 
made of thin canvass, and filled about half full. 
This, held by the mouth in one hand, and 
quickly jerked towards the plants, a cloud of the 
finest of the lime will be forced through the bag, 
and, reaching every cranny, will fall lightly and 
equally on every surface. This will drive every 
slug, snail, and earth-worm from the place, or 
make them retire as low as they can into the 
earth, where they will remain motionless for 
several days; nor will they again venture out 
while the lime retains any portion of its caus- 
ticity. This dressing repeated occasionally, and 
especially after rain, will keep all such depre- 
dators at a proper distance. Dry oat or wheat 
chaff laid round favourite plants is also a great 
baulk to the snails or slugs in their motions. 



INTRODUCTION. 47 

Two species of wire-worms, as they are called, 
prey on the roots of flowers. One appears to be 
a minute species of Scolopendra ; the other is the 
larva of the springing beetle (Elater castaneus ?); 
and a third I have lately noticed, as destructive 
to tulips, is a Styphalinus, I am not acquainted 
with any application which is either fatal or 
noxious to those hardy worms. Lime or salted 
water is the only thing I would suggest to offend 
them : only, if applied sufficiently powerful for 
this purpose, it risks the well-being of the plants. 
But, as the former of these insects are mostly 
seen in half-decayed nodules of vegetable or 
animal matter, and the latter often in the fresh 
loam, complete aeration of, and rejecting recent 
animal substances from the compost, are the only 
precautions to be taken to banish these plagues, 
as well as many other species of ground insects. 

Woodlice (Oniscus armadillo) burrow about 
the roots of flowers, and appear to gnaw the epi- 
dermis of plants. An old shoe, filled with hay 
sprinkled with sugared water, forms a good trap 
for them. This also acts well as a lure for ear- 



48 INTRODUCTION. 

wigs* (Forjicnla aiiricidarid)^ which are very de- 
structive to the blossoms of stage-flowers. Both 
these are, in some measure, guarded against by 
setting the stage feet in pans of water ; but, as 
earwdgsfiy when young, they can easily alight on 
the plants. Yet it is only when they are old that 
they are so voracious ; and then, as they never 
fly, the pans of water so placed may be useful. 

The green-fly (Aphides) frequently seat them- 
selves on flowers, particularly the carnation. 
They are easily dislodged : but the means are 
not a pleasant application for objects whose high 
recommendation is their scent. An infusion, the 



* Earwigs can only be got rid of by capture. Bean- 
stalks or reeds are too fragile and perishable for the purpose. 
I recommend^ for the preservation of wall-fruit (and flowers 
also), a trap made of twenty tin tubes, one quarter of an inch 
diameter, each having a stop or division in the middle, and 
eight inches in length, all soldered together in a plane, side to 
side. This, first dipped in honeyed or sugared water, and 
placed close to the wall, behind a branch, will at once attract 
the insects to feed, and induce them to remain in the tubes; 
out of which they may be shaken into a pail of hot water, as 
often as necessary. Such traps will cost about four shillings 
each; or according to size. 



INTRODUCTION. 49, 

powder, or smoke, of tobacco, are all fatal to these 
honey- dew-making insects. In this case, the 
florist's duty is the same as the fruit-grower's : 
they both should endeavour to prevent the 
attack rather than wait to perform a cure. If 
the insects appear before the flowers, tobacco 
may be used without fear of injuring their 
sweetness: and, whether they have showed 
themselves or not, a good fumigation about a 
week before they blow will probably keep the in- 
sects off during the bloom. Anticipating thus 
the attack of the fly is an excellent expedient in 
the culture of fruit, as well as of flowers ; and, 
w'ere it a rule in practice, constantly and timely 
observed, many beautiful flowers and much fine 
fruit would come to perfection which are every 
year spoiled and lost. The fumigation should be 
done with bellows designed for the purpose ; and 
if the plants be first sprinkled with water, the 
smoke will adhere more readily. 

Grubs of different kinds, the larva of moths 
and beetles, are sometimes found to prey on 
bulbs ; but there is no remedy or defence better 



50 INTRODUCTION. 

than frequently turning and exposing the com- 
post before it is used, and now and then adding 
a sprinkling of hot lime, which will prevent its 
being chosen either as a retreat or nestling-place 
by the insects. 



DISEASES OF FLOWER PLANTS. 

There is no disease peculiar to bed-flowers 
which is not common to almost all other vege- 
tables. Bulbs, particularly of tulips, are subject 
to a kind of canker, which is not easily accounted 
for. It appears in putrefying specks on the out- 
sides of the bulbs and leaves, and is soon covered 
with a blue mucor, and probably is the seizure 
of a fungus. It is soon fatal if it extend to the 
radical plate after the bulb is in the ground ; dy- 
ing off as onions are often seen to do. When ob- 
served on the bulb, the speck should be cut out, 
and the wound exposed to the sun to heal it. It 
should also be cut from the leaves to prevent its 
spreading. 



CULTIVATION. 



TULIPA GESNERIANA. 

GARDEN TULIP. 

Class, HEXANDRIA. Order, MONOGYNIA. 

Natural Order, LILLI^. 



The tulip has long been a cultivated favourite. 
The simple elegance of its form, and the splen- 
dour and variety of its colours, have deservedly 
ranked it as " the queen of the flower-garden." 
Being one of the harbingers of summer, there 
are many pleasing ideas associated with its ap- 
pearance. As a child of returning spring, and 
when all Nature revives, it is connected with 
the hopes of man. Hence the tulip has always 
had a distinguished place as a domestic ornament; 

E 2 



52 CULTIVATION. 

and no vegetable ornament repays the care of its 
protector with more various beauty than this. 

To increase the magnitude and improve the 
form, to add to the number and briUiancy of the 
tints, the florist has recourse to various expedients 
to produce the desired results. He propagates 
by seeds and offsets ; and, when these have ar- 
rived at a proper age or size, treats them in the 
way now to be briefly detailed. 

In propagating by seed, the rule is to procure 
the best-ripened seed from what are called, 
amongst florists, " breeders that is, strong- 
growing, robust plants, with well-formed cups, 
having clear bottoms, either white or yellow. 
The sorts from which valuable seedlings have 
been obtained are, according to the ingenious 
Mr. Hogg, Louis, Charbonniere, Davey's Tra- 
falgar, and some others in high repute in the 
profession. 

The seed should be sow^ed in the latter end of 
January, or the beginning of February, in twenty- 
four-sized pots. The pots should be well drained 
by lime-core or rubbish, to keep away earth- 



GARDEN TULIP. 53 

worms, which are hurtful to the plants. The 
soil should be good, and carefully freed from 
wire-worms, grubs, or other insects that may ac- 
cidentally harbour in it. Cover the seeds about 
half an inch with sifted mould, and keep the 
whole body of earth in the pot rather moist than 
otherwise. The seed-pots must have the protec- 
tion of a frame and glazed sash, and be defended 
from severe frost. When the seedlings are up, 
they should be gradually inured to the open air 
and mild sunshine mornino;s and eveninc^s. 
Watering must be moderately continued while 
the leaves continue to grow, or remain green ; 
and, when dead and withered, the pots must be 
kept dry for a short time before the little bulbs 
are taken up, to be dried and stored in the usual 
manner. 

This is the common practice. But Mr. 
Sweet advises another plan, which will very 
much expedite the period of their flowering. 
He sows immediately as the seeds are ripe : and 
giving the seed-pots or pans a winter protection 
in a frame, the seedlings come up in the spring. 



54 CULTIVATION. 

As soon as they are fit to handle, they are pricked 
out on a bed of sandy soil. When the leaves die, 
the bulbs are taken up, and immediately planted 
in a fresh bed (no time bein^ lost by storing) ; 
and thus, by keeping them constantly in motion, 
Mr. Sweet has no doubt but that they may be 
brought to shew flower the third year. 

A bed of suitable soil should be prepared for 
the seedling bulbs, in the open ground, before 
the middle of October, the usual time for re- 
planting. In this they should be neatly drilled, 
or dibbed in, about two inches deep ; and, during 
their progress in the following spring and sum- 
mer, be carefully guarded from insects, slugs, &c., 
and receive every encouragement from cleanli- 
ness, occasional watering, and the like. 

Such attention and treatment are necessary 
every following year, in order to accelerate the 
period of their flowering. The florist must re- 
member, that the first flower is actually formed 
in the seed, enveloped in a certain number of 
leaves; which leaves must be all developed 
before the flower can possibly come forth ; so 



GARDEN TULIP. 55 

that the stronger the seedling grows, or rather, 
the more leaves it has power to put forth in any 
one year or years, the sooner will it present its 
flower. All this time the anxious florist must 
wait, and remain in ignorance whether, as Mr. 
Hogg observes, he has got a prize, or only a 
progeny of blanks ! 

It may be just remarked here, in respect of 
seeds, that the choicest coloured flowers are bad 
breeders, and that when they do yield seeds, 
give offspring of less value in e^ery respect than 
such as are nearer to their natural state. This 
circumstance seems to indicate, that the further 
they are from their natural character, the less 
powerful are they to perpetuate their respective 
semblances. This, however, is not a singular 
characterestic of the tuhp ; but is observable 
in many other instances amongst cultivated 
plants. 

The propagation of tulips from seed is an 
attempt that nothing but the ardent enthusiasm 
of a thorough-bred florist could undertake. The 
suspense of four or Ave years would be intolera- 



56 CULTIVATION. 

ble to an ordinary mind, where there are so few 
chances of success. But the thing is done, and 
constantly, by commercial florists, to whom a 
new beauty is of considerable importance. 

Propagating by offsets is the usual and most 
certain method of increasing the stock, and per- 
petuating the favourite varieties of the tulip. 
As has already been noticed in the introduction, 
they, when in vigorous, or even ordinary, health, 
produce, besides the principal successor-bulb, one, 
two, or more junior bulbs, which, in the manage- 
ment of the principal, it is necessary to displace. 
Such viviparous progeny are planted in nursery- 
beds by themselves, and are reared and forwarded 
to a flowering state in the same way as directed 
for seedlings. They come into flower, sooner or 
later, according to their size or age ; they then 
become principals, and are ranked and cultivated 
therewith. It has also been before noticed, that 
if the principal be deprived of its flower-stem 
early in the season, the offset progeny will be 
increased ; and this kind of mutilation is carried 
so far by the Dutch florists, as before observed, 



GARDEN TULIP. 57 

that, when they wish a new variety to be ex- 
traordinarily prolific in offsets, they cut off the 
upper half or apex of the bulb, to produce this 
effect. 

But the management of perfect bulbs is the 
principal business in floriculture, and now falls 
to be noticed : — and, first, of the compost. This 
should consist of, — 

Three barrowfuls of rich mellow loam ; 

One barrowful of fine leaf-mould ; 

One barrowful of old and perfectly rotten 
dung": and 

Half a barrowful of sea, river, or white pit sand. 

This compost should be collected and tho- 
roughly incorporated several months before it 
is wanted ; turned from time to time, kept in a 
shady place, and from too much rain. It con- 
tains the most suitable substances for the incite- 
ment and support of the plant : the loam and 
dung yield the nutriment ; the leaf-mould and 
sand give that porosity and openness which all 
bulbs more or less require. 

Some florists imagine that the soil, which, in 



58 CULTIVATION. 

its constitutional temperament, is suitable for the 
bulb, may not be rich enough for the radicles 
which supply the flower and leaves ; and there- 
fore advise one kind of compost for the surface, 
and another and richer for the bottom. Mad- 
dock, for instance, directs that the natural soil of 
the bed be taken out to the depth of twenty 
inches, and filled with sound fresh loam to the 
height of ten inches ; upon this is laid a stratum 
of two years' old rotten cow-dung and loam 
mixed together, twelve inches thick ; and above 
all another layer of loam, three inches thick, to 
form the surface. There is reason in thus com- 
posing the bed ; because, as any kind of animal 
manure is foreign to the plant, it should only be 
offered to them ; that is, put within their reach, 
and if suitable, they will find and partake of it ; 
and if not, there will be no risk of injury from it 
being forced upon, or placed in contact with, the 
bulbs, which, from its property of retaining wa- 
ter, and inviting insects, might be, perhaps, 
detrimental to them. And even if placed at a 
greater depth than their roots can ever be ex- 



GARDEN TULIP. 59 

pected to reach, yet the gaseous qualities of the 
dung, ranging far round its actual place, may 
reach and assist the plants. 

The Lord Mayor's day, 9th November, has 
been long on fixed by London florists as the 
proper time for planting the tulip. In doing this 
no other attention is required than placing the 
bulbs regularly about six or seven inches apart, 
and about three and a half inches deep. Placing 
each bulb in a cone of sand is a usual practice ; 
it may do good by keeping off damp and insects 
from the bulb while it is inert; and it can do no 
harm by impoverishing the soil of the bed. In 
order that the business of regulating and plant- 
ing the bed may be done with accuracy and de- 
spatch,! shall endeavour to describe Mr. Groom's, 
of Walworth, (one of our most eminent florists) 
excellent method of doing it ; and though it be 
not necessary every where, it deserves imitation 
wherever it may be apphed. 

Mr. Groom's principal tulip-bed is four feet 
wide within, and one hundred and twenty or more 
feet in length. It is raised fifteen inches above 



60 CULTIVATION. 

the surface of the surrounding walks, by neat 
boarding. For the purpose of levelUng the surface 
for planting, marking the places of the bulbs, and 
regulating the surface afterwards, he has invented 
a gauge called a strike. This strike is made of 
a thin light board, one foot longer than the width 
of the bed, and about seven inches broad. Its 
under edge, which is used for levelling the bed to 
receive the roots, and marking their places, has 
notches, three and a half inches deep, near each 
end, which fit on the upper edge of the side 
boards ; and, on being moved backwards or 
forwards by a man at each end, lays the surface 
in the desired form ; the lower edge being- 
curved for the purpose, so as to leave the surface 
of the mould about two inches higher in the 
middle than at the sides. Thus levelled, the 
bed is ready to receive the bulbs ; their places 
are marked by means of the strike. Seven rows 
are planted lengthways of the bed, at the dis- 
tance of seven inches between ; leaving three 
inches at each side betwixt the outside rows and 
the boards. The places of the rows are marked 



GARDEN TULIP. 61 

on the strike, and at these points small staples, 
one above the other, are fixed on the face of the 
strike ; these receive seven small pegs, or dib- 
bers, which, when the strike is put down at each 
mark regulating the distances between the cross 
rows (the same as that between the long rows), 
marks the exact places of the bulbs. 

The roots, being placed, are now covered up 
with the proper compost, which is usually of a 
lighter description than that in the bottom, and 
the surface is smoothed off by the strike reversed; 
the upper edge of which, for this operation, is also 
cut with a curve, having shoulders at each end 
taking in the whole width of the bed and side- 
boards ; upon and against which the shoulders 
slide, while the strike is moved onward to take 
off the redundant covering, leaving the surface 
about three inches higher along the middle than 
at the sides. 

From this description, an idea may be had of 
how easily and expeditiously the planting is done. 

Such a mechanical method of planting and 
arranging a flower-bed is certainly preferable to 



62 CULTIVATION. 

mere random proceeding ; it should certainly be 
adopted where there is much to do ; though any 
thing on a small scale may be done accurately 
enough without either boarding or strike. 

In preparing the bulbs for planting, it is re- 
commended by some writers to divest them not 
only of their offsets, but also of the brown in- 
tegument with which they are covered. I never 
heard, nor am I aware of any good reason for 
this ; and therefore think it a refinement amongst 
florists which may just as well be omitted. If 
the bulbs be sound, and free from any loose re- 
mains of the last year's bulb, it is enough ^. 

In general, it is the practice to have either 
seven, five, or only three rows on a tulip-bed. 
The largest bulbs, or rather the tallest growers, 
are placed in the middle row ; the intermediate 
next ; and the dwarf, or lowest growers, at the 
sides of the bed. 



* There is one reason given for divesting the bulb of the 
brown coverings viz. that it sometimes prevents the protru- 
sioTi of the side roots. 



GARDEN TULIP. 63 

The bed should be placed in an open part of 
the garden, usually in front of the conservatory 
or greenhouse, which is its proper place. There 
it will have full air, and all the natural shelter it 
requires. 

As soon as the planting is finished, or soon 
as the points of the leaves appear above ground, 
the hoops should be fixed and the covering ready 
to be used against hail-storms, snow, or long-con- 
tinued rain. This care and attention must be 
continued till all danger from v/intry weather is 
over. 

The bed should be allowed to have a thorough 
soaking in the spring. Tulips are never sup- 
posed to stand in need of hand-watering ; and, 
therefore, a provision should be made, in forming 
the bed, to meet any lack of moisture caused by 
a dry spring, or first months of summer. Deep 
trenching the bottom of the bed, and putting in 
a good layer of rotten dung at a proper deptli, 
are both judicious practices for retaining mois- 
ture in the bed ; because a body of dung holds 
moisture much longer than any of the other in- 



64 CULTIVATION. 

gredieiits of a flower- compost. It becomes a 
reservoir of humidity, from which exhalation is 
ever rising", most refreshing to fibrils that des- 
cend in quest of it. 

Having defended the plants from the rigours 
of the winter and early spring months, the next 
thing is preparing to give them the necessary 
protection while they are advancing to, and con- 
tinue in, bloom. The expedients for doing this 
have already been adverted to : and, now the 
collection being in full perfection, the different 
distinctions of the varieties composing it are to 
be noticed. 

Tulips are regarded in two grand divisions, 
viz. early and late blowers. The former, though 
they are the first to regale the eye, are the least 
esteemed by the florist; because they are more 
diminutive, more fugitive, and less richly varied 
in colour. It is the latter description on which 
so much care and admiration are bestowed, and 
to which our observations specially refer. It is 
divided into grades by the florist, and dis- 
tinguished by the names following, viz.— 1. Byb- 



GARDEN TULIP. G5 

loemens. 2. Primo haguets. 3. Baguet rigauls, 
4. Incomparable verports. These have white 
bottoms or grounds. 5. Roses. And 6. Bizards, 
Which last variety have yellow bottoms, or 
grounds; i.e. the general colour of the petals is 
yellow, with markings or streaks of other tints. 
The roses have white grounds, with rose-coloured 
margins, spots, and streaks. 

There are, besides, in the extensive family of 
the tulip, peculiar varieties of all the above ; 
which are valued for singularity of form or 
colour. Such are those called parrots, from the 
odd mixture of tints and irregular form and po- 
sition of their petals. Double-flowered, sweet- 
scented, &c., all which varieties, though not ad- 
mitted to the distinguished honour of a place in 
the principal tulip-bed, are, notwithstanding, 
highly ornamental gems of the border. 

To preserve neatness and order among the 
flowers, it is necessary they be tied up, to pre- 
vent them falHng from their place. Small green 
lines are extended from end to end of the bed, 
ranging with the rows ; these stretched tightly 

F 



66 CULTIVATION. i 

and supported by intermediate slender props, if \ 
necessary, serve to tie the stems to, with green - 
coloured-worsted. 

When the beauty of the flowers is over, and 
the greater number have lost their petals, the ^ 
awning and frame, if it be a moveable one, 
should be taken away, the stoppers put on the 
trunks, and the hoops again fixed in their places j 
to allow of occasional covering against excessive 
rain. All the seed-vessels should be cut off as 
soon as the petals drop ; because, as seeds are not 
wanted from the fine flowers, and as this part of 
the plant exacts a considerable portion of the 
vigour of the system, it is only a waste of it, if 
expended on an unnecesary production. It is 
perfectly consistent with physiological facts, that 
this dismemberment should have the effect al- 
leged. It has been already shewn, that there 
is an intimate connection between the oviparous 
and viviparous organization of bulbous-rooted 
plants — a reciprocity of action, balancing the 
crescive powers of either. From the moment 
the seed-vessel is broken off, the viviparous prin- 



GARDEN TULIP. 67 

ciple receives a new impulse ; and that impulse 
is to enlarge the next bulb in succession, as well 
as the other ofFset-bulbs that may have been pre- 
viously formed. The peduncle or stalk, now no 
longer useful, begins, like the leaves, to lose its 
vitality ; and, shrinking, changes colour, and 
gradually withers away. 

There is a critical point, during this decay of 
the leaves and stem, which experience has proved 
should be particularly observed by the tulip 
grower ; viz. — when the stem in withering be- 
comes of a purple colour, it is a sign that its 
connection with the radical plate and fibres (for 
with the new bulb it has none whatever) is cut 
off, and that the new bulb is an independent 
being, having " thrown off its mortal coil," and 
therefore may be taken out of the ground with 
safety. If taken up before this connection is 
dissevered by Nature, the new bulb " will be 
weak and spongy and if taken up later it, 
by being kept in the ground, continues in a state 
of excitement and premature growth, which is 



68 CULTIVATION. 

injurious to the purity and distinctness of its 
colours in the succeeding year. 

This sign on the stalk and leaves usually ap- 
pears in about three or four weeks after the time 
of full bloom ; during which time the bed only 
requires to be kept rather dry than otherwise. 

YV'hen a tulip-bed is regarded as one of the 
principal ornaments of a garden, it is an exhibi- 
tion of which every friend or stranger has a 
view ; and, on the premises of a professional 
fiorist, his tulip-bed is a show to which every 
customer is invited. In such cases, next to the 
excellence and condition of the flowers is the i 
precise order of their arrangement. Every | 
individual having its right place, according to i 
its height, colour, &c., and, above all, that there ; ( 
be no unsightly blanks. But with the utmost i 
care a bulb now and then will die, or send up an I 
imperfect flower. To remedy such defects, sub- li 
stitutes from the open ground are brought to fill 
up the vacancies. For this purpose an instru- 11 
ment is used, called a transplanter. Two of them ' ; I 



GARDEN TULIP. 69 

are necessary in the operation. They are made 
of a piece of best tin plate, eighteen inches 
by twelve, bent into the form of a cylinder, 
or tube, twelve inches long. The two edges 
that meet are not soldered together, but mounted 
with counter, or rather alternate placed, loops, 
which range with each other when the tube is 
closed to admit a wire to pass through them, 
thereby connecting the whole securely together. 
On the sides, at the upper end, two substantial 
wrought-iron handles are riveted, and which 
serve to press the tube into the soil containing 
the plant to be moved. It is then drawer up, 
plant and earth attached, without disturbing the 
roots. When this is discharged in its new place 
(and which is ready opened by the other instru- 
ment), the connecting wire is draw^n out of the 
loops, which allows the tube to spring open a 
little, and easily to quit its charge. 

There is another and easier plan, practised by 
florists, for iilhng up gaps in their show-bed. 
Phials of water are sunk below the surface in the 
vacant spaces, and flowers only Irom the borders 



70 CULTIVATION. 

are stuck in from time to time, to make up the 
deficiencies. 

When the bulbs are taken up, they should 
be gradually dried, and placed in a situation 
where they remain so." About the end of 
August they may be looked over, and divested 
of their loose skins, dead fibres, and the offsets, 
which come off easily. The last should not be 
torn off rashly from the radical plate, as this 
would make large wounds, hurtful to the organi- 
zation, or allow its juice to escape. 

As the best bulbs are all named, it is neces- 
sary they should be kept unmixed. For this 
purpose, the plan of Van Osten is as convenient 
as any other. It is a press, or box of shallow 
drawers, having folding doors; the bottom of 
the drawers is divided into square compartments, 
each only large enough to hold a single root. 
Corresponding numbers on the compartments 
and in a book ruled in squares, and both similar 
to the arrangement and stations of the bulbs 
in the bed, and a numerical list, are sufficient 
for identifying the kinds at all times. 



GARDEN TULIP. 71 

The usual way of placing the bulbs in the 
bed is by a regular mixture of the kinds, so 
that two of a kind or colour shall not stand 
together, and this for the purpose of giving 
variety. But regular mixture is not variety. 
Instead of a bybloemen, bizard, rose, &c. con- 
stantly repeated in the same row, and then crossly 
placed in the next, and again in the third, it 
would be better, perhaps, that the different kinds 
were grouped together ; not so much from such 
disposition being agreeable to Nature, because a 
flower-bed is too artificial an object to receive 
any such character, but because it would be 
more convenient for the purpose of comparison. 
In looking" at tulips, we compare those of the 
same kind with each other — bybloemens with 
bybloemens, bizards with bizards, &c. ; and, 
therefore, to see their identical or comparative 
excellencies, they should be placed in juxta- 
position. But as this is merely a matter of per- 
sonal taste, it may be done properly either way. 

Description of a Jine Tulip. The florist's 
taste differs from that of the common observer; 



72 CULTIVATION. 

it is an acquired portion of knowledge ; and 
founded on a standard fixed by a general con- 
currence amongst cultivators. A flower may be 
ample, splendid in colours and appearance, and 
yet have no merit in the estimation of a florist. 
He can only admire what approaches his stand- 
ard ; he must have a certain form, colour, and 
disposition of colour. Whether the forms and 
tints so admired be also the most perfect com- 
binations of form and colour is, perhaps, ques- 
tionable ; but, as such objects have an extra 
value, the attainment of them is a pleasing 
pursuit to the amateur, and the possession a 
profitable one to the professional florist. 

The properties of a first-rate tulip are thus 
described by Maddock ; viz. — " The stem should 
be strong, elastic, and erect, and about thirty 
inches above the surface of the bed. 

" The flower should be large, and composed 
of six petals : these should proceed a little 
horizontally at first, and then turn upwards, 
forming almost a perfect cup, with a round bot- 
tom, rather wddest at the top. 



GARDEN TULIP. 73 

" The three exterior petals should be rather 
larger than the three interior ones, and broader 
at their base ; all the petals should have per- 
fectly entire edges, free from notch or serra- 
ture ; the top of each should be broad and well 
rounded : the ground colour of the flower at 
the bottom of the cup should be clear white 
or yellow ; and the various rich coloured stripes, 
which are the principal ornament of a fine tulip, 
should be regular, bold, and distinct on the 
margin, and terminate in fine broken points, 
elegantly feathered or pencilled. 

" The centre of each petal should contain one 
or more bold blotches or stripes, intermixed with 
small portions of the original or breeder colour, 
abruptly broken into many irregular obtuse 
points. Some florists are of the opinion, that 
the central stripes or blotches do not contribute 
to the beauty and elegance of the tulip, unless 
confined to a narrow stripe, exactly down the 
centre, and that they should be perfectly free 
from any remains of the original or breeder 
colour : it is certain that such appear very beau- 



74 CULTIVATION. 

tiful and delicate, especially when they have a 
regular narrow feathering at the edge ; but the 
greatest connoisseurs in this flower unanimously 
agree that it denotes superior merit when the 
tulip abounds with rich colouring, distributed in 
a distinct and regular manner throughout the 
flower, except in the bottom of the cup, which, 
it cannot be disputed, should be a clear bright 
white or yellow, free from stain or tinge, in order 
to constitute a perfect flower." 



75 



HYACINTHUS ORIENTALIS. 

GARDEN HYACINTH. 

Class/HEXANDRIA. Order, MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, ASPHODELE^. 



The eastern or garden hyacinth is one of our 
principal bed-flowers. So much and so long has 
its cultivation been prosecuted, that it forms a 
staple commodity of commerce from certain parts 
of Holland to all the other states of Europe. The 
Dutch florists excel in the business of raising 
hyacinths and other bulbs, and on a scale more 
like agriculture than horticulture. They have, in 
fact, engrossed almost the whole trade in bulbs. In 
this they have been no less fortunate in possessing 
a peculiarly suitable soil than they have been 



76 CULTIVATION. 

from a very general belief, in surrounding coun- 
tries, that bulbs can be no where else cultivated 
with success. This idea, so favourable to the 
Dutch trade, has, however, been doubted, and 
now is proved to be fallacious. For, though 
there is no where else in Europe such exten- 
sive tracts of comparatively rich sand as they 
have in Holland, which could be appropriated 
to the cultivation of flower-roots, yet, for all 
the purposes of the British florist, the soil can be 
imitated with but little expense or trouble. It is 
not the natural soil that the Haarlem florists 
trust to ; they form their compost for the propa- 
gation of, as we do for flowering, them ; and 
there is no question, but that hyacinths, as well 
as other bulbs, may be as v/ell cultivated in 
England, especially near the coast, as they are 
in Holland. 

One circumstance, however, must not be for- 
gotten : full-sized bulbs imported from Hol- 
land, or from any other country, will thrive bet- 
ter, only from change of air and other circum- 
stances, than home-bred bulbs, roots, or seeds of 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 77 

any kind ; exactly as English bulbs, &c. would 
do if exported to Holland. But, independent of 
change of place, hyacinths may be cultivated any 
where in the same latitudes, provided they are 
properly treated. This has been confirmed by 
many m.en of the first ability and veracity. 

The most suitable soil for this plant is a free 
rich sand, or sandy loam. This is evident from 
the character of that preferred for it in Holland, 
and the experience of those in this country who 
have made the cultivation of the hyacinth their 
study. Saline qualities, which impregn the air 
in Holland, and also the soil, which has been 
chiefly reclaimed from the ocean, are supposed to 
be peculiarly necessary and favourable to the 
growth; and, from a recent trial by the ingenious 
Mr. Hogg, as published in the Gardener's Maga- 
zine, Ko. X, it seems to be clear, that a m.ode- 
rate quantity of salt employed in the compost is 
a suitable ingredient. 

That water contains much of the elemental 
food of the plant is evident from the perfection 
in which they are flowered in it. The practice is 



78 CULTIVATION. 

therefore perfectly right, in storing the compost 
with matters retentive or attractive of that ele- 
ment, which both rotten cow-dung and salt de- 
cidedly are ; and placing a stratum of the former 
at ten inches below the bulbs is also most rational. 

The soil prepared for the hyacinth in this 
country is an imitation of that used by the Dutch 
florists; it is composed of four barrowfuls of fresh 
maiden sandy loam ; one ditto well rotten cow- 
dang ; two ditto leaf-mould, well reduced ; two 
ditto sea or river sand ; and to this is added one 
barrowful of old night-soil, all well incorporated 
together. This is said to retain its virtues for 
three years ; but an annual addition of the in- 
gredients near the surface will always be accept- 
able to the bulbs, more especially to those reared 
on the same spot. 

Haddock's compost is made of one barrow- 
ful of coarse sea or river sand ; one ditto sandy 
loam ; half ditto rotten cow-dung two years old ; 
and a quarter ditto of leaf-mould. 

Mr. Campbell, in Gardener's Mag., No. VIIL, 
asserts, as a general axiom, that wherever the 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 79 

onion will thrive, the hyacinth will succeed. A 
well-trenched free soil, with a liberal allowance 
of rotten dung turned in, as well as laid three 
inches thick over the surface, are the only means 
employed by this successful florist to insure fine 
bloom, unfaihng" bulbs, and luxuriant true pro- 
geny. 

Hyacinths may be raised from seed ; but it is 
a tedious process, and the chance of obtaining 
superior sorts very precarious. Seeds are chosen 
from the handsomest single, or rather semi- 
double, flowering plants, when the capsule be- 
comes yellow and the seeds black. The stem 
with the seeds should be kept in a dry and airy 
place till the time of sowing, which may be done 
either in the end of October or begining of 
March. A deep box, filled with the common 
compost, serves as a seed-bed ; the seeds, when 
sown, are covered about half an inch. The box 
must be kept in a warm place during winter, and 
defended from frost. After two years, and on 
the approach of winter, the little bulbs should 
have an additional covering of compost, and in 



80 CULTIVATiOX. 

the third year may be taken up, and afterwards 
managed as offsets. 

Offsets are managed by being- kept in nursery- 
beds till they become of full size, which they 
usually do in the third or fourth year. 

Hyacinths, whether raised from seeds or off- 
sets, have an infancy, youth, and mature age. 
The first is that from the time they are inde- 
pendent beings till they flower ; the next stage is 
from their first flowering till they arrive at their 
utmost vigour and volume; and the last is that 
natural size which they continue to assume so 
long as they continue in health and free from 
accident, and which (barring accidents) may be, 
by the assistance of art, prolonged for ever. It 
is true, that a full-grown bulb shew^s at last a 
kind of decrepitude ; but this appears to be 
caused by mismanagement, or want of change 
of soil or situation, rather than to any natural 
exhaustion of the vital principle. 

It is quite rational to conclude,, however, that 
the hyacinth, like all other vegetables, may fall 
into a kind of old age, and at last become extinct. 



GARDEN HYACIXTH. SI 

Even the sturdy oak, the towering produce of 
five hundred years, though its progeny may 
shade a thousand acres round, at last crumbles 
into dust ! 

In Holland, a full-grown bulb is said to con- 
tinue in perfection for a dozen years : in this 
country it has been long erroneously believed 
that they do not continue more than tw^o or three. 
This mistake is much in favour of the Dutch 
commercial florists ; and it is a pity that British 
florists should be swayed by it. Surely a full- 
sized bulb will continue its vigour till its own 
offsets can take its place ; unless, indeed, their 
culture costs more than new-imported ones. 

This error, about the deterioration of bulbs, 
has chiefly arisen fron the belief that bulbs are 
permanent ; that the bulb of last year will be 
planted in this, and again in the following. But 
the identity is only apparent, not real ; that part 
of the bulb which flowered last year is perished 
and gone, except a small portion of the bases of 
its leaves, which now form the outer coat of this 
year's bulb ; and this, which now looks so plump 

G 



82 CULTIVATION. 

and perfect, will be almost invisible when taken 
up in the next. The outer coats of the hyacinth 
are discharged gradually and imperceptibly, the 
increments of the bulbs are added from within, 
and, consequently, the transmutation is invisible. 

The suitableness of the soil and situation in 
which a hyacinth is placed not only assists the 
bulb of the present year to expand itself with the 
greatest vigour, but also indirectly invigorates 
and stim.ulates the incipient successor into 
greater volume and power to expand itself in its 
turn. The soil is therefore the principal auxiliary 
of the florist. By the constitution and components 
of this, all the changes produced in the amplitude 
and colours of the flowers, compared with their 
natural simplicity, is to be attributed. The dou- 
ble hyacinth is a child of art ; and when we con- 
sider the vast difference that exists between this 
and its diminutive original in the wilds of Per- 
sia or Greece, we cannot but admire the florist's 
skill or labour in accomplishing such results ; 
especially as the art is progressing, and probably 
still far li'om perfection. 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 83 

The bed for hyacinths should be prepared for 
their reception during the month of September. 
The natural soil, whether suitable or not, should 
be trenched three feet deep, for reasons before 
given. Of whatever description it may be, 
eighteen inches of the surface should be removed 
to make way for a previously prepared compost. 
If the bed be raised by boarding, the natural 
bottom on which it stands should be suffi- 
ciently loosened, in order that the whole mass 
of compost and earth under the bulbs be of the 
same texture or consistence. The bed, whether 
boarded or not^ should be made up to within 
three inches of the desired height, and smoothed 
into form to receive the roots. 

St. Crispin's day (25th October) is a good 
time for planting. If the bulbs are put in much 
earlier, except in countries farther north than 
London, they may be hurt by being too much 
advanced in mid-winter; and if kept out of 
ground after this time, they begin to vegetate in 
the drawers, or on the shelves ; which, if they 
do, it has a tendency to weaken them. 



84 CULTIVATION. 

Single-flowered hyacinths may be planted 
earlier, and will blow earlier than the double 
ones ; on which account they are usually planted 
by themselves. 

The beds are commonly made four feet wide, 
which allows six rows to be planted lengthways, 
at the distance of eight inches asunder, leaving 
four inches between the outside rows and the 
sides of the bed : the distance between bulb and 
bulb in the rows is also eight inches. 

The bulbs should be placed on and covered 
with white sand, as directed for tulips ; this 
being considered as a preservation from damp 
and insects. They are then covered with com- 
post three inches thick, if the surface is to re- 
ceive no other covering ; but if intended to be 
covered with tv/o or three inches of well-rotten 
dung about the beginning of December, a 
covering of one inch thick of compost will be 
sufficient. Another mode of covering I have 
practised, which is to cover the bulbs, in the 
first place, with about two inches of compost ; 
and, before the frost sets in, adding a top cover- 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 85 

lug of fine sifted and perfectly decayed bark, 
about one inch thick. This assists to keep off 
the frost in winter and the bed cool during 
the flowering season. It also allows of a harm- 
less practice of showing the flowers to the 
greatest advantage ; viz. giving the surface a 
slight watering about an hour before the flowers 
are to be shown to company. A dark-coloured 
back-ground is thus given to the flowers, and a 
freshness to their colours which is truly pleasing 
and well worth the labour. 

It is not the practice to water bulbs at any 
period of their growth; and certainly, if the 
compost contains substances which are retentive 
of humidity, or if there be a layer of moist dung 
at the proper distance below, it is perhaps unne- 
cessary during the short period of their spring 
growth. Otherwise, I see no reason why the 
hyacinth should be denied the " vernal showers, 
so invigorating to all vegetation. 

Soon as the points of the leaves appear above 
ground, hoops should be fixed, and mats or can- 
vass coverings laid ready to be used against the 



86 CULTIVATION. 

occurrence of very severe frost, heavy snow, or 
violent rain. Slight frost or rain does no injury ; 
indeed there is more fear of over- covering and 
preventing a full share of air and light than of 
over-exposing the bed to the weather. 

If a bulb be frozen through, it and the flower 
will be killed, though the offsets may escape ; and, 
if the exterior coats only be frozen, a diminished 
stem and flower will afterwards be produced ; but 
few or no leaves. This, it may be observed, is a 
circumstance frequently witnessed in vegetation, 
and particularly bulbs. If the exterior of a bulb 
be chilled by cold, or over-dried by warm air, its 
central and more vital part, being free from in- 
jury, pushes forth before the leaves, and seems to 
engross the whole vigour of the system. So, we 
sometimes see, under the influence of the mid- 
day sun, the flowers of a plant remain erect and 
rigid, while its leaves are flaccid and drooping ; 
because the flowers depend on the central vessels, 
which are less exposed to desiccation than the ex- 
terior. Branches of evergreen trees, as the holly 
for instance, when denuded of every leaf, and 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 87 

fast verging to decay, will put forth their flowers 
as the last effort of life : even the pine-apple 
plant shows the same phenomenon. 

It is well, therefore, to defend from severe 
frost; though, during the months of January, 
February, and March, as much free air must be 
admitted as the state of the v/eather will permit. 

In ordinary seasons, it will be towards the 
1st of April that the flowers will begin to shew 
colour. The awning should now be erected, to 
guard against the effects of too much sun. It is 
needless to reiterate how much shading enhances 
the pleasure and continues the beauty of a hya- 
cinth-bed. It gives time to examine and admire 
their distinguishing characters, and inspect their 
respective excellencies. It is desirable the col- 
lection should come into flower together; and, to 
accomplish this, the accurate florist takes care to 
plant the early blowers a little deeper than the 
late ones. 

The next attention w^hich the flowers require 
is to be prepared with propping-sticks and ties. 
The former should be made of oak or deal, three- 



88 CULTIVATION. 

eighths of an inch diameter, and pointed at bot- 
tom, tapering" off towards the top, painted green, 
and sixteen or eighteen inches in length. These, 
stuck in with care behind the bulb, are necessary 
for the support of the flowers when their weight 
bends the stem. Green worsted ties are the least 
conspicuous : encompassing both prop and stem 
in loose collars, they rise with the growth of the 
latter without confining it in any part. 

Thus prevented from falling by the props, 
and defended from sun and wind by the awning, 
the flowers will continue for nearly three weeks a 
pleasing and interesting spectacle. The healthy 
freshness of their forms, the splendour of their 
colours, and their grateful sweetness of scent, 
are a fascinating treat even to those the most 
dead to the charms of Nature : but to the lover 
of flowers, or genuine florist, it is a gratification 
of the highest order, enhancing all the other 
enjoyments of life. 

Soon as the general beauty of the bloom is 
over the awning should be immediately removed, 
in order that the plants may enjoy the full air and 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 89 

light ; for, if the weather has been such during 
the bloom that it has been much used, the health 
of the plants will be somewhat impaired. They 
will not have that constitutional vigour which a 
full share of air and light would have imparted ; 
and therefore should be exposed as soon as 
possible. The hoops may however he replaced, 
to allow of covering with m^ats, &c. in case of 
excessive rain. 

When the stems and leaves become yellow 
and withered, which usually happens in about a 
month after the bloom, the bulbs should be taken 
up and laid on the surface of the bed, and lightly 
covered with sand or with part of the com.post. 
If it be a named collection, each bulb is taken up 
and laid on the same spot sideways, and there 
covered over for the space of three wrecks, to 
ripen, as it is called ; that is, lulled into perfect 
repose before they are consigned to their places 
in the store-boxes. When the time arrives to do 
this the bulbs are taken up one by one, the dead 
remains of the stem and leaves are cut off close, 
the loose skins and fibres cleaned away, and the 



90 CULTIVATION. 

largest offsets separated, which, with the bulb 
and tally, are placed in their respective cells in 
the drawer. In the drawers they are exposed to 
the dry air of a room till all perceptible moisture 
is dried up, when they are again placed in the 
cabinet, to remain till planting time. This or- 
derly way of disposing the bulbs prevents all 
confusion or chance of mixture, and saves much 
trouble in papering and numbering in the com- 
mon way. But, where the collection is not 
named, the bulbs, when first taken up, may be 
laid out of the way in any bye corner to ripen, 
leaving the bed clear for any other purpose of the 
flower-gardener. 

Where no bulb-case or cabinet is used, they 
may be kept on dry shelves in moderate temper- 
ature, either in paper or without. 

Collections of hyacinths are kept up by sup- 
plies of offsets from the nursery-beds, or by pur- 
chases from the seed-shops. Florists reckon that 
one in twelve is lost every year by accidents, in- 
sects, or disease. 

The properties of a fine double hyacinth, — ^The 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 91 

stem should be strong-, tall, erect, supporting nu- 
merous large bells, each supported by a short 
strong peduncle or foot-stalk in an horizontal 
position, so that the whole may have a compact 
pyramidal form, with the crown or uppermost 
bell perfectly erect. 

The bells should be large and perfectly dou- 
ble ; i. e. well filled with broad, bold petals, ap- 
pearing to the eye rather convex than flat or con- 
cave : they should occupy about one half the 
length of the stem. 

The colours should be bright, whether plain 
red, white, blue, or yellow, or variously diversi- 
fied in the eye: the latter give additional lustre 
and elegance to the flower. 

Strong bright colours are in general preferred 
lo such as are pale : there are, however, many 
rose-coloured, pure white, and light blue hya- 
cinths in high estimation. 

Some sorts consist of petals of different co- 
lours; such as light reds, with deep or red eyes ; 
whites, with rosy, blue, purple, or yellow eyes ; 



92 CULTIVATION. 

and yellow, with purple in the eye, &c. : others 
again have their petals striped, or marked down 
the centre with a paler or deeper colour, which 
has a pleasing effect. 

It sometimes happens, and with some sorts 
more than others, that two stems are produced 
from the same root : one is generally consider- 
ably taller and stronger than the other. When 
this is the case, the weaker may be cut off near 
the ground, soon after it makes its appearance, 
or suffered to bloom, and its bells be intermixed 
with the lower ones of the taller stem, so dex- 
terously as to appear like one regular pyramid 
ofbells.'^ 

This last-mentioned circumstance is a sign of 
the superior vigour of the plant : in fact, it is 
nothing less than the flower of the next as well 
as that of this year coming together; so that the 
third of the series will succeed to the place of the 
second. This exuberance of growth is very 
frequently seen in cottage-gardens, where the 
bulbs have been but recently introduced, in the 



GARDEN HYACINTH. 93 

absence of all floricultural art ; showing most 
decidedly how much the hyacinth, like almost 
all other plants, delights in a change of situation 
and of soil. 



94 



NARCISSUS TAZETTA. 

POLYANTHUS-NARCISSUS. 

Class, HEXANDRIA. Order, MONOGYNIA. 

Natural Order, AMARYLLIDE^. 



The next bulbous-rooted flowering plant in 
order and estimation is the polyanthus-narcissus. 
It is a more robust plant than either the tulip or 
hyacinth ; consequently requires less care in ma- 
nagement and preservation. In the structure, 
mode of growth, and manner of reproduction, it 
resembles the hyacinth in every respect ; and the 
directions for the cultivation of the one are 
equally applicable to the other. Hyacinth com- 
post suits them well : the richest portion below, 
and the bulbs themselves placed in a lighter- 
surface stratum. 

There is a considerable importation of these 
bulbs, from both Holland and Italy, every year ; 



POLYANTHUS-NARCISSUS. 95 

chiefly for the purpose of being- flowered in 
pots and glasses for the decoration of drawing- 
rooms and conservatories. This trade affluence 
encourages, because it is convenient. The 
British cultivator, however, whether private or 
commercial, is not compelled to have recourse 
to an imported supply, so long as he can obtain 
from his ow^i management as perfect bulbs as can 
be had from abroad; always excepting the effect 
of change of place, which has a very powerful 
influence on the energies of plants. 

When polyanthus-narcissus are planted in 
beds or borders it is customary to let them re- 
main for two or three years, without removal. 
But this is not the best management ; because 
the offsets becom.e numerous, and, remaining 
attached to the system, withdraw a part of the 
vigour which it is desirable should be expended 
only in the production of the flower of the present 
year, or in increasing the size of the successor- 
bulb of the next. The Dutch florists take them 
up every year, as they do their other bulbs ; by 



96 CULTIVATION. 

which means they concentrate the g-rowth, and 
so bring' better (i. e. larger) samples to market. 

There is a special difference in the management 
of private and comm.ercial growers, as regards 
the polyanthus-narcissus. The former cultivates 
for the sake of the bloom ; the latter chiefly 
for propagation. To propagate with success, 
and ensure a return of large bulbs which v/ill 
flower well, no flowers should be allowed to 
expand the previous season. Pinching otf the 
flower-stalk stimulates the growth of the other 
parts, and furnishes, for the next year, bulbs in 
no degree inferior to newly imported ones. The 
private grower, in order to have always a respect- 
able succession, should therefore deny himself 
the gratiflcation of a full bloom this year, for a 
partly fine bloom in the next. By dividing his 
stock into blowers and breeders, alternating in 
station and treatment with each other, and by 
carefully nursing the largest offsets, he may al- 
ways maintain a good collection. 

Cutting off the leaves of this plant is partic.u- 



POLYANTHUS-NARCISSUS. 97 

larly interdicted by florists. This rule is more 
regarded in England than it appears to be on 
the continent. The Dutchmen are less tender 
of the foHage than we are ; nor do they seem to 
attribute to the leaves that peculiar function 
which is given them by the botanical physiolo- 
gists of this country. Perhaps certain ideas, 
like diseases, are endemical. But as to the 
question whether or not the cutting off the 
leaves while in vigorous growth be detrimental, 
there can be no doubt of the affirmative. In 
this case, Nature shows what is right. Every 
distinct member of a plant is certainly necessary 
to each and all the other parts. And although 
Art may direct or regulate the tendencies of 
parts of members, no distinct member contri- 
buting to the growth can be taken away without 
injury. 

The first of October is the proper season for 
planting the polyanthus-narcissus. The bulbs 
should be put four or five inches deep in the 
ground ; and, during severe frost, should have a 
covering of old bark, dry fern, or mats ; as the 

H 



98 CULTIVATION. 

points of their leaves are liable to be killed if 
too much exposed. 

When in flower, shading is necessary to pro- 
long their beauty ; and, when the leaves become 
yellow, the bulbs may be taken up, dried, and 
stored. 

There are several varieties of this narcissus, 
all of which require the same management, and 
which, indeed, is suitable for the whole of this 
extensive family, from the delicate jonquil up to 
the rustic daffodil. 

All the lily and fritillary tribes that are suffi- 
ciently hardy — crown imperials, martagons, &c. — 
may be cultivated by means similar to what have 
been recommended for the preceding. The 
white and orange are so hardy, that they are met 
with as old standards in every garden. It is a 
wonder that seedling varieties have not yet been 
had, by cross impregnation, from those two spe- 
cies. The smaller species should be planted in 
patches or beds by themselves. 

There are many bulbs of minor importance and 
character, which have always a place in the flower- 



POLYANTHUS-NARCISSUS. 99 

garden ; but as they are easy of culture, and 
thrive in almost every situation, they need no 
particular notice, further than to observe, that, 
whatever has been advanced relative to the 
conformation, peculiar properties, or habits of 
bulbs in general, are applicable, more or less, to 
all kinds, whether superior or inferior. Of these, 
the snow-drop, various sorts of hyacinth, squills, 
bulbocodium, uvularia, crocus, corn-flag, &c. are 
among the number, and all well known. It is 
doubtful, however, whether the crocus and corn- 
flag can be ranked as bulbs, they partaking 
more of the character of tubers than of bulbs. 



100 



OF 

TUBEROUS-ROOTED BED FLOWERS. 



The distinction between bulbs and tubers is 
not very well defined. If only those were called 
bulbs in the sense in which Evelyn uses the 
term, i. e. tunicated, or composed of abbreviated 
leaves, there would be no confusion. The 
introduction of the term hulhoiis solidus^ by the 
early botanists, has led to much uncertainty 
in subsequent descriptions. The first of this 
character to be noticed is the 



lOi 



ANEMONE CORONARIA. 

POPPY, OR CROWN ANEMONE. 

Class, POLYANDRIA. Order, POLYGYNIA. 
Natural Order, RANUNCULACE^. 

The brilliance and variety of colours displayed 
in the flowers of this half-hardy exotic, have long 
attracted the notice of the florist, and raised it to 
the rank of a bed-flower. It is one of those whose 
extreme delicacy of structure shrinks from the 
full blaze and withering effects of a summer sun, 
and therefore is destined by Nature to come forth 
under the mild temperature and light of a vernal 
sky. The rigour of our winters, which is more 
extreme than that of their native habitat, imposes 
on the florist a particular care in the management, 
to give these strangers all the advantages of our 
temperate climate, while they are defended from 
the severity in the early, or occasional dryness 
during the latter, part of their seasonal life. 



102 CULTIVATION. 

The natural history of the anemone is briefly 
this : — It rests in summer ; and, soon as the au- 
tumnal rains set in, it comes into action, expands 
its leaves and flowers (probably during; our win- 
ter), and ripens its seed in the spring: when 
these decay, the vitality becomes stagnant, and 
remains secure in the bosom of the tuber. 

Thus, while the generality of plants are 
prompted into action by the return of spring, to 
be perfected by the increased heat and light of 
summer, the anemone is one of those that shuns 
the warm season, remaining dormant till the 
parching heats are past. Many plants are simi- 
larly actuated. It has been already observed, that 
some flowers cannot bear the light, if combined 
with a high degree of heat: but no conjecture 
has been offered why this must needs be so. I 
shall here, therefore, risk an opinion, and an 
opinion only, on the subject : — 

Nature does nothing in vain.'' Every plant 
is fitted for the circumstances of the climate of 
which it is a native. Tropical trees are scarcely 
affected by a change of seasons, though they are 



CROWN ANEMONE. 103 

by changes of weather : the greater number, 
under their continual summer, are hardly suscep- 
tible of a change of temperature. But the plants 
of the temperate and frigid zones feel summer and 
winter, in which they are alternately in motion 
and at rest. Each plant presents its flowers 
in that part of the year for which the consti- 
tution and texture of their blossoms are best 
adapted. Many icosandrious and polyandrious 
plants, from the attenuated structure of their sta- 
mens and pistils, are unsuited to bear the direct 
and parching rays of the sun, and, therefore, 
are expanded early in the spring or summer. 
This, it appears, is necessary for the safety of the 
flowers from heat; and such plants from warmer 
latitudes, having this natural impulse, come forth 
with us so early, as to jeopardize their existence, 
and be wholly cut off by frost. To mention a 
few instances, by way of proof : — botanists have 
long ago noticed the peculiar precaution, if I may 
so call it, of the cactus grandifiora blowing only 
in the night. The fruit-grower laments this 
tendency or habit in his most delicate wall-fruit 



104 CULTIVATION. 

trees ; and the florist must bestow considerable 
labour and skiil to check or defend this forward 
propensity in his favourite anemones. 

The anemone is propagated, and new varie- 
ties are obtained, by sowing the seed. This 
should be chosen from the best old flowers im- 
pregnated with semi-double flowers, having the 
desirable properties of rich colour and fine form. 
The seed, being volatile, should be gathered as it 
ripens, and preserved in a dry place till the month 
of January, when it should be sown. It requires 
to be prepared for sowing by being mixed with 
and well rubbed in sand, to divest it of its downy 
covering. The seed-bed should be composed 
entirely of fresh garden ground or loam, from 
twelve to eighteen inches deep, which has been 
well aerated, to free it from earth-worms and 
insects. And, for the better security against 
these, a layer of quick-lime, three inches thick, 
should be laid in the bottom of the bed : and, to 
prevent the approach of slugs or worms to the 
surface, the outskirts of the bed should be fre« 
quently sprinkled with lime or salt water. 



CROWN ANEMONE. 105 

A shallow one-iig'ht frame is necessary for 
the defence and nurture of the seedling's. In 
this, when the soil is settled and levelled, sow 
the seeds thickly and equally, and press them 
into the earth with a board, or back of a spade. 
The bed should be, and kept, rather moist. 
While the seeds are vegetating-, the glass-hght 
should be kept close; and as they swell and force 
themselves above ground, a slight covering of 
loam may be sifted on from time to time, till 
the seeds are hidden. Air must be given on all 
occasions, when the weather permits, soon as the 
plants begin to appear ; and, should the bed 
become too dry, it must be lightly watered. If 
the surface appear crusted when the seedlings are 
rising, it must be cautiously loosened with the 
point of a stick, to give freedom to the plants. 
This treatment must be continued till the leaves 
begin to die off; and when they are quite wi- 
thered, the tubers may be taken up. 

As these small roots are irregular in form, and 
of a dingy colour, they are not readily found, un- 
less two or three inches of the surface be passed 



106 CULTIVATION. 

through a fine brass wire sieve, to separate them 
from the mould. A more expeditious way is by 
washing; it away in water. For this purpose a 
wide tub of water is used ; the sieve containing 
the mould and roots, partly emerged in this, is 
trundled ; the earth falls through, leaving the 
roots to be picked out, dried, and stowed away in 
a proper place, to be planted in due season. 

These seedlings, planted in a nursing-bed, 
will for the most part flower the second year; 
all that are worthless may be discarded, and the 
best only kept to breed from, or take a place 
among the superiors. The finest double varieties 
are only procurable by a long course of succes- 
slonal sowings from individuals of good colour, 
and which show a tendency to become double. 

The anemone may be also propagated by di- 
viding the tuber. When this becomes old, it rots 
in the centre; but as the vital crowns are dis- 
persed over the surface, any portion thereof, 
however small, containing a crown, if separated 
and planted, becomes a new plant. 

The sleep of the anemone enables the florist 



CROWN ANEMONE. 107 

to commence its season at any period during the 
autumn or winter months. Were he to imitate 
Nature closely, he would invariably choose the 
month of October as the most proper in this 
country ; because they get into action before 
the hardest frost sets in, and which is considered 
as no small security; and though they must 
brave all the severity of winter, still, if they 
receive that protection which it is the business 
of the florist to afford, they will succeed better 
than if they had an artificial season forced upon 
them by deferring the planting for two or three 
months. 

But it is argued, that the frequent covering 
required to repel the frost, is not only highly 
injurious, but even risks the existence of the 
plant ; and therefore some persons prefer spring 
planting, as the safest practice. But it should 
be remembered that the anemone is a winter, 
not a spring plant ; requiring, in its own climate, 
a season of at least five months' continuance ; 
whereas, with us, if planted in February, it has 
only a season of three months, which is too short 



108 CULTIVATION. 

a period to allow the full development of the 
flowers, and necessary enlargement of the tuber; 
the sudden arrival of our summer checks the 
growth and hastens on a premature torpidity. 

I am, therefore, decidedly of opinion, as well 
from the nature of the anemone itself as from 
the concurring" testimony of many successful 
growers, that the middle of October is the proper 
time for planting. The hazards of the winter 
must be guarded against with the requisite 
attention, by defending the bed from severe 
frost, without depriving it of a full portion of 
air. How this may be done requires only a 
few words. 

Few persons, acquainted with the effects of 
frost on vegetation, but are aware that cold air 
descends perpendicularly, or, as it is explained 
by some meteorological writers, heat is radiated 
from the earth vertically. Heat, a positive, and 
cold, a negative quality, do not, from their 
effects, appear to be much diffused laterally. A 
coping on a wall defends the fi'uit-trees under 
it: a thin mat will repel frost that, without its 



CROWN ANIilMONE. 109 

interposition, would have been fatal : a dense 
cloud, floating high above the earth, shelters 
the ground and plants below. Coverings for 
anemones, therefore, should be placed at some 
distance (say two feet) above the surface of the 
bed ; the sides being left open for the admission 
of air, except in frosty winds (called black 
frosts), a curtain should be added on the wind- 
ward side. Stakes, driven in the ground, and 
connected by a surrounding rail, will serve to 
bear straw mats of sufficient thickness to be 
rolled on and off as they are needed, which 
will be protection enough. 

The habits of the anemone, as being a pro- 
duction of the moistest season of the year, seems 
to point out the soil most congenial to it; viz. a 
mellow rich loam. The success of many culti- 
vators who have published their experience yields 
ample proof, if proofs were wanting, of the suit- 
ableness of such soil. It is such as absorbs and 
retains an equable degree of moisture, without 
repletion or deficiency. And, though surface- 
water be neither naturally necessary nor suitable, 



110 CULTIVATION. 

yet a substratum of rich and permanently humid 
soil appears to be indispensable. 

In forming the bed, therefore, the florist has 
only to loosen the bottom sufficiently deep : and, 
about eight inches from the surface, let strong 
loam and rotten dung be mixed, to form the sub- 
stratum, and on this a surface-layer of hghter 
loam to receive the tubers. 

The bed being formed and levelled, drills are 
drawn across about five inches asunder, in which 
the roots are placed, crowns upwards, four inches 
or more apart, according to their size, and cover- 
ing them as near as possible about two inches 
deep. Sometimes sand is strewed under and 
over the tubers ; but this is not absolutely neces- 
sary. 

Having already adverted to the winter ma- 
nagement, the next thing in course is what should 
be attended to before and at the time of flower- 
ing. If the winter has been mild and without 
much frost and snow, and all other circumstances 
favourable, the plants, in the course of the spring, 
will be looking well. If the month of March, 



CROWN ANEMONE. Ill 

as sometimes happens, has been dry, the bed 
should be examined ; and if the surface has be- 
come loose, it should be stirred; a little fresh 
loam added, and pressed close to the plants. 
The subsoil should also be examined; and if it 
appears not sufficiently damp, a good soaking of 
manured water should be immediately given. 
It is wrong to wait for indications from the 
leaves of a want of water, because leaves attached 
to a bulb or tuber show a vigour which does not 
entirely arise from the state of the soil ; and 
therefore the soil should be examined and treated 
accordingly. If insects of any kind have taken 
possession, they should be dislodged. 

When approaching to flower, unless sufficient 
rain has fallen, occasional watering may be 
necessary ; and, as they come forward in bloom, 
both shading and watering will be required. 

If the weather at this time be fine and dry, 
the tubers, after flowering, will ripen regularly of 
themselves ; but, if cold and wet, it will be ne- 
cessary to protect the bed from rain : otherwise, 
the tubers will be kept in a state of excitement, 



112 CULTIVATION. 

and be thereby enfeebled for future exertion. 
This is a material point in the culture of the 
anemone, and deserves particular attention. It 
seems that our summer should resemble their 
own ; that is, to commence so as to stop their 
growth instantaneously, and allow the tubers to 
ripen in perfect drought. Checking all growth 
by such means, the leaves will soon begin to 
change colour; and, about a month after the 
bloom, the roots may be taken up, carefully 
cleaned, dried, and stored up. 

The properties of a fine double anemone, — 
The stem should be strong, elastic, and erect, 
not less than nine inches high. 

" The blossom, or corolla, should be at least 
two and a half inches in diameter, consisting of 
an exterior row of large, substantial, well-rounded 
petals or guard-leaves, at first horizontally ex- 
tended, and then turning a Httle upwards, so as 
to form a broad, shallow cup, the interior part of 
which should contain a great number of long', 
small petals, imbricating with each other, and 
rather reverting from the centre of the flower : 



CROWN ANEMONE. 113 

there are a great number of slender stamens, 
intermixed with these petals; but they are short, 
and not easily discernible. 

" The colours should be clear and distinct 
when diversified in the same flower, or brilliant 
and striking if it consists only of one colour, as 
blue, crimson, or scarlet, &c.; in which case, the 
bottom of the exterior petals is generally white ; 
but the beauty and contrast are considerably 
increased when both the exterior and interior are 
regularly marked with alternate blue and white, 
pink and white, &c. stripes, which in the broad 
petals should not extend quite to the margin.' 



114 



RANUNCULUS ASIATICUS. 

GARDEN RANUNCULUS. 

Class, POLYANDRIA. Order, POLYGYNIA. 

Natural Order, RANUNCULACE^. 

The natural history of the ranunculus or 
frogwort is so much like that of the anemone, 
that what has been said of the one is quite 
applicable to the other. They are natives of the 
same latitude ; are perfected in the same season ; 
thrive in the same soil ; and succeed under the 
same management. 

The ranunculus, however, ranks rather higher 
than the anemone, because of the very rich and 
varied colouring of its full turbinated flowers ; 
and though perhaps not quite so hardy, is 
flowered with equal facility, and when in flower, 
is more permanent. 

New varieties are obtained from seed in the 



GARDEN RANUNCULUS. 115 

same way, and by similar management, as is 
advised for the anemone; indeed, no two distinct 
genera can be more alike in habitude and consti- 
tution. The whole family of the ranunculi, from 
the fluviatalis to the arvensis, affect humidity, 
both of soil and atmosphere. 

Different cultivators have different opinions as 
to the best time for planting the ranunculus. Jt 
is, however, very generally admitted, that autumn 
planting is most seasonable, provided the rigours 
of winter can be sufficiently guarded against. 
That the autumn is also the most natural season, 
has been already shown (and it is trusted 
proved); and by the mode suggested of shelter- 
ing with elevated straw mats, all the objections 
to autumn planting are answered. It is proper 
to add, however, that spring-planted beds will 
succeed ; and with judicious management, do 
constantly succeed, when circumstances of soil, 
situation, and season, are favourable. If the first 
four months of the year be temperate and moist, 
with no bleak easterly winds to dry the earth and 

I 2 



116 CULTIVATION. 

air, the flowers will attain considerable perfection. 
But the tubers, it is more than probable, will not 
be so strong to flower the following year. The 
store of vigour in the tuber is exhausted by the 
excitement of the spring season in a de2;ree 
greater than there is time for an equal replenish- 
ment : and it may be safely repeated, that success 
from spring-planting is only in a degree, and 
certainly less than would follow equally fortunate 
autumn-planting. 

There are only a few particulars in which the 
management of the ranunculus di tiers from that 
of the anemone. The first is in preparing the 
seed for sowing, which instead of being separated 
by rubbing amongst sand, is scraped from the 
receptacle with a blunt knife ; dividing it so as 
not two or more remain together in the husks. 
The next particular is in the planting ; that care 
be taken not to bury the tubers deeper than an 
inch and a half The bed, too, besides the natural 
tendency of such a compost to settle closely to- 
gether, should be, in some degree, consolidated by 



G/mDEN RANUNCULUS. 117 

the action of the spade, to resist the entrance of 
air, which appears to be less necessary to the roots. 

Before and when coming* into bloom, the 
surface of the bed should be kept pretty solid and 
moist by mulching; and occasional watering with 
manured water. Shading will preserve and 
prolong' the beauty of the flowers ; and all 
subsequent treatment to be observed as directed 
for the anemone. 

Ranunculus tubers have been already de- 
scribed. They increase themselves by viviparous 
progeny ; but the connecting runner between 
the old and young plants is usually so short, that 
they appear as one and inseparable. This, how- 
ever, is not the case : if the runner be cut by 
the point of a knife, neither the old nor young 
one will be damaged ; and, by such means, the 
kind may be multiplied without end. 

The properties of a Jine double rammculus. — 
" The stem should be strong, straight, and from 
eight to twelve inches high, supporting a large, 
well-formed blossom, at least two inches in dia- 



118 CULTIVATION. 

meter, consisting of numerous petals, the largest 
at the outside, and gradually diminishing in size 
as they approach the centre of the flower, which 
should be well filled up with them. 

" The blossom should be hemispherical ; its 
petals should be imbricated in such manner as 
neither to be too close and compact, nor too 
widely separated; but have rather more of a 
perpendicular than horizontal position, to display 
their colours with better effect. 

" The petals should be broad, and have per- 
fectly entire, well-rounded edges: their colours 
should be dark, richly clear, or brilliant, either 
consisting of one colour throughout, or be vari- 
ously diversified, on an ash, white, sulphur, or 
fire-coloured ground, or regularly striped, spotted, 
or mottled, in an elegant manner." 

There are more numerous varieties of double 
ranunculuses than of any other flower ; and it is 
one that may be flowered at almost any time of 
the year, merely by changing the time of plant- 
ing. For a bloom in September or October, 



GARDEN RANUNCULUS. 119 

plant about the middle of July. For a bloom all 
the season, commence in February, and plant 
every fortnight or three weeks ; in September, 
plant in a frame, and you will have a bloom 
about January or February." — H. Groom, in 
Trans, Hort. Soc, 



120 



PRIMULA AURICULA. 

GARDEN AURICULA. 

Class, PENTANDRIA. Order, MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, PRIMULACE^. 



The auricula (or bear's ear) is the beau of 
the flower-garden; and, though a native of a 
poor alpine region, yet, when introduced into the 
more refined ranks of floral society, no other 
plant assumes a more gaudy dress, nor more 
capriciousness of taste and feeling. To gratify 
this artificial character and appetite, the florist 
ransacks every description of mineral, vegetable, 
and animal matter — from the mildest maiden 
loam to the most filthy and abominable sub- 
stances — to furnish a repast to satisfy the palate 
and vitiated taste of this fastidious fop of the 
flower-bed. Divested of its native hardihood 



GARDEN AURICULA. 121 

when brought into the sheltered parterre, it be- 
comes too dehcate and too much valued to be 
consigned to the bosom of its mother earth. 
The breath and beams of heaven must not " visit 
its face too roughly;" requiring defence as well 
from the summer heat as from the winter's cold. 

It is a vernal flowering plant ; but, unlike 
bulbs and some other tubers, it is not a sleeper. 
In the whole art of floriculture there is nothing 
more difficult than to grow the auricula plant 
to a great and vigorous size, and yet retard its 
showing flower till the proper season. This is 
a point requiring particular consideration; and, 
luckily, the practical experience of eminent florists 
is on record, which, with some additional obser- 
vations, will show the most approved means to 
gain this desirable result. 

The root of the auricula is a long, irregular, 
branching tuber, furnished by fibrous permanent 
radicles, very much in the style of the iris family. 
It is increased by gradual elongation upwards, 
and as gradually dying off at the bottom. Hence 
it is the nature of the plant to rise out of the 



122 CULTIVATION. 

ground, and consequently to be the better for 
earthing up. When its " spurious stem,'* as it is 
called by some writers, rises to a certain height, 
it, from laxity, reclines on the ground and there 
takes root, and in this manner naturally propa- 
gates itself 

The apex of the principal and each of the 
other branchlets bear the leaves and a cluster of 
flower buds, which are developed therefrom in 
irregular succession — the most central usually 
first, and then the next according to its strength 
or seniority. The base of each bud (and on 
which the leaves are seated before they decay) is 
permanent, and becomes a component of the 
stem, entering intimately into its organization. 
All the leaf buds are not developed while they 
are on the summit of the shoot, but remain dor- 
mant in the stem, from whence they occasionally 
issue as branchlets. Radicles proceed from all 
parts of the stem also, showing that any part of 
the stem may be nursed into a perfect plant. 

It sometimes happens that the senior bud, 
containing the embryo flower, is accidentally 



GARDEN AURIC LXA. 123 

either wholly or partially damaged. In either 
case it will immediately be succeeded by the next 
in order. If the flower only of the first has sus- 
tained injury^ it may come forth; but it w^U be 
defective in colour, thoug^h its successor will be 
perfect both in form and colour. 

That the auricula is partial to dry air and 
situations, is perfectly obvious from its history — 
from experience in its cultivation — and particu- 
larly from that curious peculiarity of constitution 
by which it covers itself with dust. Whether 
this be an efflorescence of the exterior cuticle, or 
a concreted exudation of its juices, is, perhaps, 
not yet ascertained ; but it is quite rational to 
suppose, that it serves as a defence against rain. 
Water " conglobing on the dust," is a circum- 
stance noticed by every body, and often alluded 
to by poets; and no doubt this elegant formation 
is a necessary provision of Nature for the preser- 
vation of the plant. At any rate, it furnishes an 
excellent practical lesson to the cultivator ; as it 
is one of those silent yet significant hints which 
should always be regarded by the practitioner as 



124 CULTIVATION. 

assisting in the right treatment of the plants 
under his care. 

The auricula is propagated by seeds to pro- 
cure new varieties, and by slips, to multiply and 
continue the old favourite ones. 

In raising them from seed, the most import- 
ant part of the business is procuring in the first 
place the offspring of estimable kinds. The 
usual precautions are removing the breeders away 
from amongst the common and mixed sorts; 
placing them in the company of such only as 
possess valuable properties (a transfer of which 
would be desirable), and encouraging them by 
every practicable expedient to perfect their seeds. 
This is the simplest and easiest plan ; but no 
doubt new and much improved varieties might 
be obtained with much more certainty, and very 
little more trouble, by the ordinary means of 
cross impregnation. The manner of doing this 
has already been described ; and nothing more 
need be added in this place, save the advice to 
choose varieties of the finest forms and deepest 
colours for the experiment : divest them of their 



GARDEN AURICULA. 125 

own anthers, and impregnate their stigmas with 
the anthers of the various coloured sorts whose 
tints, or position of tints, are wished to be con- 
veyed. Or, if it be, as it often is, desirable that 
the properties of two good ones should be in- 
terblended, crossing the anthers of each to the 
stigmas of the other may effect the object ; 
always taking care that the organs are in the 
proper state for such manipulation, and that 
the plants, after impregnation, be safely defended 
from rain and ardent sunshine. 

The breeders are assisted to ripen then' seed 
by being placed in a situation and aspect not 
liable to the vicissitudes of the weather or of a 
summer day ; that is, where they may receive 
only the morning and evening sun, but not 
the noon-tide heat. Decayed, or supernumerary 
florets (or pips, as they are technically called) 
should be cut away, leaving only the most pro- 
mising to mature their seed. When the capsules 
become dry and brown, they should be gathered 
and kept in a cold and moderately damp, rather 



126 CULTIVATION. 

than in an over-dry place, till the month of 
January, when the seeds should be sown. 

Boxes, large-sized pots, or seedling pans, are 
indifferently used for seed-beds ; and various 
stations are assigned them, as opinion, or rather 
as convenience allows. Within striking, or hand- 
glasses — a cucumber-frame — the front of a green 
or dwelling-house near the glass — or in a shel- 
tered place in the open air (the pots being covered 
with plates of window-glass) — are all recom- 
mended. But, certainly, the most expeditious 
way is raising the seedlings in a mild hot-bed, 
especial care being taken to guard against the 
warm steam. Such a stimulus brings up every 
perfect seed, and particularly the weakest, which 
generally turn out the best flowers ; and which 
there is a chance of losing, if no assistance be 
given by the application of artificial heat. 

Too much attention cannot be paid to the 
effectual drainage of the pots, &c. intended for 
auriculas. The plant is very soon damaged by 
water becoming stagnant near its roots. Af 



GARDEN AURICULA. 127 

oyster-shell whelmed over the hole in the bottom 
of the pot, and this covered with a layer of small 
stones or cinders, will readily allow all excess of 
water to escape. 

When the pots or boxes are thus drained and 
filled with the proper compost, it should be 
shaken and pressed smoothly down full half an 
inch below the rim, leaving the middle rather 
higher than round the sides. On the surface 
the seeds are dropped as regularly as possible, 
and covered with finely sifted compost to the 
thickness of a crown piece. Water is given 
immediately, applying it as lightly as possible 
by a patent syringe or otherwise, so that the 
surface, or seeds, be not disturbed. The pots 
are next placed in their stations, and the glasses 
put on. Here they must be guarded against the 
approach of earth-worms and insects — ventilated 
by occasionally taking off or raising the glasses 
to prevent mouldiness — and gently watered or 
shaded when either appears to be necessary. 

All such attention must be continued up to 
the time the plants are fit to handle ; they are 



128 CULTIVATION. 

then pricked out, two inches apart, in middle 
sized pots, in which they are nursed till the 
month of August, when they are again trans- 
planted singly into the smallest sized pots, viz. 
sixties, or three together at equal distances, 
round the outside of forty-eights. Here they 
remain to flower ; and then comes the most in- 
teresting period of their culture. The hopes and 
curiosity of the florist are wound up to the 
highest pitch. If he happens to have raised a 
fair portion of third and fourth rates, he regrets 
neither his toil nor trouble, though he may have 
many pin-eyed flow ers to reject : if a few second 
rates, he is highly gratified ; but if he has suc- 
ceeded in raising a prime superior flower, he 
enjoys unqualified delight. 

Emmerton, who has written with much ability 
and minuteness on the culture of the auricula, 
gives his advice as to the best kinds to breed 
from, viz. ^' To breed fine light-green, green, or 
grey-edged seedlings, plant two of Barlow's 
king, and four of Grimes's privateer, in a pot. 
To breed fine green-edged seedlings, take three 



GARDEN AURICULA. 129 

of Barlow's king', and three of Pollit's Highland 
boy. To breed choice-tinted violet ground- 
coloured seedlings, with green edges, plant three 
of Bunless's superb, and three of Fadin's victory, 
in a pot. To breed fine white-eyed seedlings, 
put together three of Schooley's Mrs. Clarke, 
and three of Taylor's incomparable, in one pot." 

Placing such kinds, or any others having Hke 
properties together, and further aiding the im- 
pregnation by manual assistance, would go far to 
ensure success. 

Successful management of the auricula de- 
pends very much on the suitableness of the com- 
post prepared for it. It has been found by ex- 
perience, that the plant submits to a high degree 
of cultivation ; and, like many others, it becomes 
in the garden entirely the child of art, and almost 
a new being. Mr. Hogg has very justly said, 
however, that though a plant may be greatly 
changed by cultivation, it still retains some of its 
aboriginal predilections ; and though the auricula 
seems voluptuously willing to partake of what- 
ever store of good things are provided for its 

K 



130 CULTIVATION. 

roots, it persists on its natural propensity for 
pure air and dry situations ; insomuch, that no 
care or attention, it is said, can make it prosper 
in contrary circumstances. 

The different substances which have been em- 
ployed in composing a soil for the auricula, are 
maiden or fresh loam ; the droppings of sheep, 
horses, or oxen; desiccated or very old night- 
soil ; dimg of pigeons, poultry, and particularly 
that of geese ; blood from slaughter-houses ; 
sugar-baker's scum; leaf mould; moor earth; 
ashes of burnt vegetables ; and sea or river sand. 

Some curious cultivators have used certain 
portions of all these substances together ; but, as 
Mr. Hogg observes, not to the advantage of their 
plants, but the reverse. One famous grower used 
only one-third loam, two-thirds sheep-dung and 
well rotted hay litter from sheep-houses, and one- 
tenth coarse sand. This answered the purpose 
well. Mr. Hogg's own compost is made of one- 
third fresh yellow loam, one-third well rotten 
cow-dung, one-third night-soil two years old, 
one-third leaf mould, and one-tenth sea or river 



GARDEN AURICULA. 131 

sand, all well prepared and incorporated toge- 
ther. And though he, as opportunity offers, 
adds indiscriminately the dung of sheep, horses, 
cows, poultry, pigeons, night-soil, and blood, to 
his compost heap, he yet seems to approve of the 
opinion of the Lancashire florists, who maintain 
that the Londoners are too particular in their 
choice of substances, and that a much simpler 
composition would answer the same end. At the 
same time he approves Emmerson's compost of 
goose-dung, blood, and night-soil; loam, and 
sugar-baker's scum, of each one-third, for top- 
dressing in February ; and recommends some- 
thing similar for strong blooming plants. 

Such are the composts which florists have 
found most suitable for the auricula. Their 
basis is fresh maiden loam, made light and porous 
by vegetable matter, as decayed straw, hay, 
leaves, or rotten wood, and enriched by animal 
qualities contained in the ordure, blood, or other 
parts after decomposition. To prevent composts 
becoming an abode or nestling place for worms 
and the larva of insects, they should be sprinkled 

k2 



132 CULTIVATION. 

moderately with hot hme and salt, and fre- 
quently turned and exposed to frost. Some im- 
portance is attached to the time they have been 
mixed ; some authors advise them not to be used 
in less than two years. It certainly seems neces- 
sary that the crudities of the different ing-redients 
should be somewhat neutralized, or at least qua- 
lified by frequent turning and exposure. Every 
flower-grower should have at command an abun- 
dant store of such matters, either separate or 
mixed up, to which he can have recourse on all 
occasions. 

Shifting, — There is a difference of opinion 
relative to the time of shifting the auricula. 
Maddock thought, and many other florists think, 
that the best season is that immediately after the 
flowering ; because this, following the great effort 
of perfecting their bloom, finds the plants in a 
state of exhaustion or rest, and consequently 
better fitted to undergo such an operation. This, 
however, is an argument founded on their arti- 
ficial, rather than on their natural character; be- 
cause it is obvious that the ripening their seeds 



GARDEN AURICULA. 133 

Is the grand object and effort of the auricula, as 
well as that of all other plants. If, therefore, 
they have a season of rest, it must be after the 
latter event, not the former. For this, among 
other reasons, I am decidedly of opinion that 
the end of July, or the beginning of the month 
of August, is the most natural as well as the most 
proper for shifting the auricula, in order to afford 
them full time to be re-established in their flower- 
ing pots. It is at the same time necessary to 
add, that as the auricula is almost an ever-grow- 
ing plant, and less affected by the change of sea- 
sons than most other plants are, the individual 
state of each should be at all times attended to. 
Some individual plants, from inherent vigour or 
from peculiarly favourable circumstances, ad- 
vance before the others, and may require shifting 
from a smaller to a larger, or from a shallow to a 
deeper pot, at other than the regular season. A 
luxuriant-growing plant may require to be di- 
vested of its slips and repotted two months be- 
fore or immediately after flowering ; so that in 



134 CULTIVATION. 

respect of the auricula, general rules, however 
good, are not always applicable. 

At the general shifting, the state and condition 
of each plant should be regarded and treated ac- 
cordingly. Such as have been previously shifted, 
and have improved in growth during the sum- 
mer, will only require to be transferred to larger- 
sized pots, reducing the ball a little by removing 
part of the old soil from the top and bottom, and 
repotting with fresh compost. Such as have im- 
proved but little, or remained stationary, should 
receive a more severe examination, by having the 
whole of the ball shaken off, to see the state 
of the tuber and roots. Whenever there are 
signs of decay, the knife must be applied to 
remove every vestige, whether dead or dying 
leaves, fibres, or cankerous spots on the tuber; 
all which defects should be cut or pared away. 
The balls of all should be reduced more or less 
according to their state and the appearance of the 
roots. Such as appear sugged, compacted, and 
clingy should be entirely shaken off; but, if 



GARDEN AURICULA. 

porous, sweet, and well occupied by healthy fibres, 
the upper surface and part of the bottom only 
need be taken away. The plants should be pot- 
ted so that their lower leaves be half an inch 
above the surface of the mould, and this nearly 
an inch below the edge of the pot. This depth 
is necessary, in order to admit as large a top* 
dressing as possible in the month of February, 

After being thus shifted and watered, the col- 
lection must be placed where there are full air 
and light, but defended from ardent or long-con- 
tinued sunshine, and also from heavy and immo- 
derate rain, the drip of trees, and the approach of 
worms or creeping insects ; there to recover and 
take fresh root, uninfluenced by extreme changes 
of weather. 

It has already been observed, that the stage 
auricula is wholly a child of art; so much so, 
that it cannot bear the vicissitudes of the atmo* 
sphere with impunity. A certain degree of 
moisture for the roots, as well as leaves, is 
necessary at all times ; and this can only be 
applied by the attention of the cultivator. For 



136 CULTIVATION. 

this purpose, each plant, when it arrives at a 
proper age, must not only have its own pot, but the 
collection must have a suitable platform or stage, 
fitted for its reception, raised high enough from the 
damp of the ground, and with coverings to exclude 
the sun and heavy rain, whenever necessary. 

To combine with convenience all the advan- 
tages of shade and shelter required by auriculas, 
a double stage, protected by a double roof, is cer- 
tainly best. One side of the roof may be glazed 
lights or panels, and the other boarded shutters of 
the same dimensions, so that they may take each 
other s places as the season or state of the plants 
require. It would be superfluous to give direc- 
tions for such an erection; so as the principle of 
its use, connected with convenience, is adhered 
to, local circumstances and views of the proprie- 
tor will direct all the particulars of dimension, 
place, and form. We may notice, however, a 
very common contrivance, constructed for keep- 
ing auriculas both in winter and summer. It is 
built in the form of an alcove, placed against 
a north or south wall according to the season. 



GARDEN AURICULA. 137 

Four substantial corner posts are fixed in the 
ground; the two behind are united by a plate 
five feet from the ground ; the two in front have 
also a plate six and a half or seven feet high ; the 
two ends and back below the plate are weather- 
boarded up. The roof is composed of moveable 
panels, sloping from front to back, of convenient 
length, fixed by hinges to the back plate, to 
admit of being thrown back at pleasure. These 
panels should be water-tight ; each having a 
ledge nailed to its edge, and which over-cills the 
next pan 1 to cover the joint between ; the last, of 
course, keeping all the others in place. The 
width of this alcove need not be more than about 
four feet from the back to the front posts. This 
will give room for a stage having four shelves 
dropping in position one below another, on which 
to set the pots, every one of which will be suffi- 
ciently within reach of both hand and eye. Such 
a frame and stage as this form a very suitable re- 
pository for auriculas during the winter months. 
By throwing back the roof, a warm shower or 
additional light and air may be occasionally ad- 



138 CULTIVATION. 

mitted. The front being open to the southward 
allows the entrance of the mildest air at all 
times ; and, in severe weather, a curtain of mats, 
suspended from the front plate, and properly se- 
cured at the ends and bottom, will be, with a dou- 
ble mat or two thrown on the roof, a sufficient 
defence. If such a frame as this, intended for a 
small collection, were formed on truck wheels so 
that it might be turned to any aspect, it would 
serve as well for a summer as a winter repository, 
and answer all the purposes of a double-roofed 
frame. 

To such a receptacle as this, or to one having 
all its advantages of shade and free air, should the 
plants be removed after shifting ; and exposed to 
the east or north aspect, to remain till inclement 
weather from these quarters renders it necessary 
to take advantage of the subdued sunshine of a 
southern sky. Here, throughout the winter, they 
must be tended as has been already hinted. 

Top dressing. — About the beginning of Febru- 
ary is the usual and best season for supplying 
every plant intended to flower with a top dressing 



GARDEN AURICULA. 139 

of rich, well-prepared compost. The surface- 
mould in each pot is first carefully loosened with 
a small stick and taken out ; dead or dying leaves 
are removed by pressing them off downwards: 
the pots are then filled up with fresh compost, 
watered, and returned to their places on the 
stage. While doing this, it is necessary to see 
that every pot is efficiently drained. If any ap- 
pear heavy, and have their surfaces covered with 
conferva or green moss, they should be looked to, 
lest imperfect drainage be the cause ; as nothing 
is so hurtful to the auricula as an excess of water 
at the root. At the same time, too, should any 
slips be fit to remove, they may be taken off and 
potted ; and, though at this season some of the 
strong growers may require larger pots, this had 
better be deferred till after they have done 
flowering. 

While advancing into flower, regular watering 
and effectual protection against frost are chiefly 
to be attended to. Water should be given mode- 
rately and frequently to the root only, and not 
always over the leaves. If, however, an oppor- 



140 CULTIVATION. 

tunity presents itself of exposing the plants to a 
warm spring shower, they should have the ad- 
vantage of it. Rain is peculiarly refreshing to all 
growing plants ; special care being taken that a 
night frost does not reach the plants before they 
are dry. Protection against frost is essentially 
necessary at this time, as a very slight attack 
destroys the fine colours of the flowers. Mr, 
Hogg advises covering even up to the time of 
full bloom. 

The flowers of the auricula are not terminal ; 
the buds being seated on the sides of the rising 
stem among the leaves. They are irregularly 
developed : sometimes a leading one will rise 
from near the summit, and sometimes from the 
side lower down. If more than one truss come 
forth from the same stem, the strongest only 
should be allowed to stand, if it be wished to 
have flowers in the greatest perfection : the j 
inferior trusses are in this case pinched off. And \ 
when the preferred truss begins to open its florets, 
these, if too numerous, require to be thinned, so 
as to leave no more than will compose a well- 



GARDEN AURICULA. 141 

balanced bunch of flowers. This regulation of 
the truss requires some dexterity. It is per- 
formed at different times during its expansion: 
the smallest central florets are cautiously cut out 
with small-pointed scissors, leaving only from 
seven to thirteen of the strongest and most regu- 
larly placed florets, to rise and form a circular 
head. 

When the flowering season has arrived, if they 
have not already, they must have a suitable place 
for this interesting period of their existence; and 
as they are portable, may be, if desirable, put on 
a stage or bed, and under an awning erected for 
other flowers. An exhibition of hyacinths and 
auriculas may be conveniently shewn together : 
but, wherever the station, the necessary supphes 
of water, fresh air, and mild light, must be punc- 
tually and amply given, and above all, constantly 
protected from the withering effects of the noon- 
tide sun. Trusses having weak stems, which 
bend or droop, should be supported by means of 
wires stuck in the soil, having an horizontally 
bent hook to hold the stem upright. Watering 



142 CULTIVATION. 

with manured water (that is, such as has had 
dung of cows, pouItr}% or pigeons, soaked in it) 
is recommended to be used at this time, as well 
as previously, for the purpose of imparting high 
colour to the flowers. 

It is always desirable that the auricula should 
blow fairly; i. e. that the petals of each floret 
should expand in a plane, and be in no degree 
cupped. This is considered among professional 
florists so essential a property of a good flower, 
that pains are taken to produce this characteristic 
by exposing cupped flowers to the action of the 
sun's heat, under glass, slightly shaded. And 
besides this perfectly rational expedient to give 
the desired form, they have also small ivory tools 
with which they lock the petals under each other 
and turn the outer edges downwards, to alter the 
cup-like position. This is a refinement of taste 
and management only felt and exercised by those 
who exhibit their flowers at shows. 

Auriculas sometimes present their flowers in 
autumn. This the florist regrets, because it pre- 
vents a fine bloom in the proper season. It is 



GARDEN AURICULA. 143 

said to be a consequence of shifting immediately 
after the flowering season ; but it Iiappens only 
partially. To ensure a bloom from such forwar d 
plants at the proper season, it is only necessary 
to destroy the autumn flowers the instant they 
make their appearance : the next flower-bud in 
succession will soon be pushed forward as a sub- 
stitute. 

Soon as the general bloom is over, the collec- 
tion must be removed to its summer repository. 
The plants should be examined as they pass 
through the hand on this occasion. Some, which 
have grown and flowered strongly, and whose 
roots appear above ground, may require to be 
shifted : dead leaves should be taken off, and the 
surface of each pot stirred and freshened up. 

Respecting the summer station, it is only ne- 
cessary to repeat, that the florist's daily attention 
does not cease with the flowering season. Many 
fine auriculas are lost from want of proper care 
during the summer. To obtain sufficient shade, 
the plants are often placed in some dark, out-of- 
the-way corner, where there is too much humi- 



144 CULTIVATION. 

dity. The rich qualities of the compost in which 
they grow are peculiarly acted on by the summer 
heat ; and this, not having due ventilation, be- 
comes corrupted, producing- sickness among the 
plants often fatal. The fact is, they cannot have 
too much dry air during the summer, provided 
they are duly supplied with water. The consti- 
tution of the auricula requires pure air ; and 
therefore the summer stage or platform should 
receive all the advantage of free air, guarded only 
from the mid-day sun and from excessive rain. 

That this plant is subject to disease, and that 
it frequently appears in the summer, are circum- 
stances w^ell known. Mr. Hogg attributes this 
malady to there being too much cow-dung used 
in the compost, and especially if the plants be 
kept in a low, moist situation : yet, though Mad- 
dock admits that improper soil may be the cause 
of the misfortune, he is rather of opinion that it 
is a consequence of the neglect of shifting after 
the flowering season ; adding, most unaccount- 
ably, that this malady seldom or never occurs 
in a wet or cool climate ! 



GARDEN AURICULA. 145 

This disease is also said to be infectious; but, 
from its sweeping effects when and where it does 
happen, it is manifest that either the soil or situ- 
ation is unfavourable. It is therefore good ma- 
nagement, so soon as one appears to be affected, 
to shift the whole into fresh loamy compost, and 
give them a drier situation. 

Description of a Jine auricula, — " The stem 
should be strong, erect, and elastic, of a proper 
height, that the bunch or truss may be above the 
foliage of the plant. The footstalks of the florets 
should also be strong and elastic, and of a propor- 
tional length to the size and quantity of the pips, 
which should not be less than seven in number, 
that the bunch may be rather round, close, and 
compact. 

" The parts of the floret are the tube, the eye, 
and the exterior circle, containing the ground 
colour, with its edge or margin : these three 
should be all well proportioned, which will be 
the case if the diameter of the floret be supposed 
to be divided into six parts ; of which the dia- 

L 



146 CULTIVATION. 

meter of the eye will occupy three, the tube being 
one, and the ground colour the other parts. 

" Florists agree that the florets should be round : 
but this seldom happens ; and we must be content 
if they are so nearly round as not to be what is 
termed starry. 

" The anthers ought to be large, bold, and fill 
the tube well ; and the tube should terminate 
rather above the surface of the eye, like a little 
cup or margin ; the eye should be very white, 
smooth, and round, without any cracks, and dis- 
tinct from the ground or self colour. 

" The ground colour should be intense and 
rich, and equal on every side of the eye, whether 
it be in one uniform circular belt, or in bright 
patches ; it should be distinct at the eye, and only 
broken at the outer part into the edging ; a fine 
black, purple, or bright coffee colour contrasts 
best with the eye ; a rich blue or bright pink is 
pleasing ; but a glowing scarlet, or deep crimson, 
would be most desirable, if well edged with a 
bright green ; but this must seldom be expected.'' 



147 



PRIMULA VERIS. 

VARIOUS-COLOURED COWSLIP OR 
POLYANTHUS. 

Class, PENTANDRIA. Order, MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, PRIMULACE^. 

The polyanthus, in the structure of its roots, 
tuber, stem, leaves, and mode of flowering, re- 
sembles its sister the auricula; and it is as much 
a production of art. Being naturally a native of 
moist woods and meadows, is much hardier, and 
better suited to the soil and climate of British 
gardens, than the auricula. It differs, moreover, 
in being a variety only, and not, like the other, 
a distinct species. 

Its propagation, whether from seeds or offsets, 
and its cultivation, either as a bed or stage flower, 
is, in almost all respects, similar to the auricula* 



148 CULTIVATION. 

The difference in the treatment only requires to 
be noticed. 

The compost for the polyanthus does not re- 
quire to be so rich as that for the auricula. The 
principal part should be fresh and rather sandy 
loam, mixed with moderate portions of leaf mould 
and well-rotted old hot-bed or cow-dung. 

They may be flowered in pots for the purpose 
of being shewn, placed on a stage, in a conser- 
vatory or boudoir ; but, soon as they have done 
flowering, they should be immediately turned out 
into a north or east open border. Their fibres 
being very attenuated are liable to be hurt by 
drought, and consequently require a more equable 
degree of both heat and moisture than they can 
receive in pots. But, if in pots, they should be 
kept plunged in the ground in a similar place ; 
i. e. on a border having an east or north aspect. 

They are commonly cultivated on such bor- 
ders, because they succeed best. An east aspect 
seems most congenial to them : they delight in 
the early sun, whether of the year or of the day. 
If the natural soil of the border be unsuitable, 



POLYANTHUS. 149 

the top spit, to the depth of twelve inches, should 
be taken out, and in the bottom of the excavation 
should be laid a stratum of rotten cow-dung", two 
inches thick. This is not intended to be reached 
except by the extreme points of the fibres, should 
they descend so far, but to serve as a reservoir of 
moisture, and a source of gaseous vapour to give 
high colour to the flowers. This rich layer is to 
be covered with a compost (described above) to 
receive the plants ; these being put in at equal 
distances of about eight inches apart. 

In dry weather, they will require frequent 
watering, and especially if attacked by a species 
of acarus, commonly called red spider, which is 
very prejudicial to them. These little insects are 
not so easily driven from the polyanthus as they 
are from some other trees and plants, because 
they can secrete themselves in the under cavities 
of the leaves, to which water cannot be easily in- 
troduced. Two or three applications of tobacco 
water, thrown forcibly on with a garden syringe 
while the lower leaves are held up, is one means 
of ridding the plants of them ; but this will 



150 CULTIVATION. 

require to be repeated very often in dry wea- 
ther. Slugs, snails, and earth-worms, should be 
banished with lime water. 

The very choice sorts, when in flower, should 
have the shelter of a hand-glass, to preserve 
their beauty as long as possible. Except those 
intended to ripen their seed, all should have their 
flower stems cut away soon as the flowers have 
faded. Being prolific bearers of seed, its produc- 
tion receives a great portion of the strength of 
the plant ; consequently, the shoots and flowers 
for the next year are diminutive; which would 
not be the case, if prevented from perfecting 
seed. 

Description of a fine polyanthus. — " Its proper- 
ties are in most respects similar to those of a fine 
auricula, viz. the stem, pedicles, and formation 
of the truss ; therefore a definition of its florets 
and petals are only necessary to be considered 
in this place. 

" The t-ube of the corolla should be short, 
well filled with anthers, and terminate fluted, 
rather above the eye. 



POLYANTHUS. ISr 

" The eye should be round, of a bright clear 
yellow, and distinct from the ground colour : the 
proportion, as in the auricula, throughout the 
flower. 

" The ground colour is most admired when 
shaded with a light and dark rich crimson, resem- 
bling velvet, with one mark or stripe in the centre 
of each division of the corolla, bold and distinct 
from the edging down to the eye, where it should 
terminate in a fine point. 

" The florets should be large, quite flat, and 
as round as is consistent with their peculiar, 
beautiful figure, which is circular, excepting 
those small indentures between each division of 
the corolla. 

" The edging should resemble a bright gold 
lace, bold, clear, and well defined, and so nearly 
of the same colour as the eye and stripes, as 
scarcely to be distinguished.'' — Madd. 

There are many curious, improved varieties 
of the primrose; such as the different-coloured 
double ones, which are well worth cultivation. 
Of species, a few have been lately added to 



152 CULTIVATION. 

British collections, particularly a very shewy one, 
Primula sinensis, from China, which is at present 
a great favourite. As this is a pretty hardy, 
free-growing plant, there is no doubt that, by 
high cultivation in highly compounded soils, it 
may assume all the diversity of form and co- 
lour so remarkable in its congener of European 
origin. 



153 



DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS. 

CLOVE CARNATION. 

Class, DECANDRIA. Order, DYGYNIA. 

Natural Order, CARYOPHYLLE^. 



As there is no plant more valued for its beauty 
and fine scent than the carnation, so no one has 
received more attention from the flower-gardener. 
In regard of this plant, cultivation has done 
w^onders ! When we consider the diminutive 
appearance of the wild clove, as it grows on the 
walls of Rochester castle in Kent, and on other 
its native places on the Continent, and compare 
it with its splendid offspring, such as Fulhrook^s 
Grenadier^ rising four or five feet high, we know 
not which to admire most ; the triumphant per- 



154 CULTIVATION. 

severance of the florist, or the astonishing versa- 
tility of vegetable power. 

Much has been written on the culture of this 
universal favourite : and, so universally has it been 
cultivated in Europe, that the management has 
long ago been reduced into a code of practical 
rules. The rich spicy fragrance of the flower 
was, no doubt, originally an easy passport for it 
to a distinguished place in the parterre. There, 
it would naturally become, under ordinary treat- 
ment, more robust in habit ; its seedlings would 
soon partake of this luxuriance ; the flowers 
would next become exuberant; hence would ap. | 
pear the rich-coloured and odorous clove. Con- ? 
tinned cultivation, by change of soil and situa- 
tion, would break its self-colour into lighter tints, 
and, by progressive grades of variation, become, 
what we now find it, the admirable carnation. It 
is said that the variegated clove first appeared in 
Italy ; but, though much cultivated there, as well 
as along the whole northern coast of the Mediter- 
ranean, it is certain the more indefatigable florists 
of France, Holland, and England, have chiefly 



CLOVE CARNATION. 155 

contributed to bring the flower, as well as its 
culture, to its present perfection. 

The carnation is raised from seed, and propa- 
gated by cuttings and layers. 

Raising from the seed affords the only chance 
of obtaining new varieties; and, though the 
chance of obtaining really good kinds is ex- 
tremely precarious, yet it is the most interesting 
part of a florist's amusement. Much depends on 
choosing proper breeders, and procuring well- 
ripened seed. To secure this, some management 
is necessary in the treatment of the seed-bearing 
plants. These must receive every attention as to 
due watering, protection, &c. Such of the cap- 
sules as appear to be fecundified should be as- 
sisted by being divested of the decaying petals, 
by pulling them away with the tweezers*, taking 
care not to injure the stigmas or pericarpium; by 
cutting off the reflexed extremities of the calyx 
with scissors, and also by slitting down the latter 

♦ A piece of brass or copper wire^ ten inches long, ham- 
|| mered flat at each end, and afterwards bent into the form of 
1 sugar-tongs. 



156 CULTIVATION. 

to the bottom with a penknife. This trimming 
is to prevent moisture settling round the swelling 
capsule. The seed ripens about the end of Sep- 
tember, and should not be gathered till it is of a 
dark brown or black colour. It should be kept 
in a dry place, and in the capsules, till after 
Christmas, when it may be rubbed out and put 
up in paper, or, in what Hr. Hogg thinks better, 
small well-corked phials. 

The seed should be sown about the middle of 
April, in deep seedhng pans or large pots, and 
covered lightly with finely sifted compost. If 
placed in a glazed frame or under a hand-glass, 
they will, if properly attended to, rise quickly 
and in more safety. When up and furnished with 
two or three pairs of leaves, inure them to the 
full air as soon as possible, to check them running 
up too spindling ; and soon after this, they may 
be planted out in beds about ten inches apart, 
where they may remain to flower. The bed or 
beds should be prepared by deep digging, and 
enriched by a pretty liberal dressing of rotten 
dung and leaf mould ; and no wider than can be 



CLOVE CARNATION. 157 

easily covered by hoops and mats when necessary 
either against extreme heat or severe frost. 

Mr. Hogg estimates the chance of raising a 
first-rate flower from seed as only one in a hun- 
dred : of course, he means such only as might be 
entitled to a prize in a show. But this view aside, 
many new and truly beautiful varieties may be 
raised from seed, which, though not exactly formed 
and coloured according to the beau ideal of pro- 
fessional taste, may nevertheless be highly orna- 
mental in the border, if not on the stage. 

Propagation by cuttings, or, as they are called, 
pipings, is performed about the end of June or 
during the first fortnight of July. They should 
be chosen from plants having a redundance of 
shoots, or such shoots as are situated too high 
on the stem for layering. It has already been 
observed, that the shoots proper for this purpose 
are the secondary shoots of the plant, and which, 
if left attached, are destined to rise into flower 
the next or following years. But as these shoots 
would grow into irregular position, and likewise 
blow feebly and imperfectly, it is found much 



15S CULTIVATION. 

better to remove the tops containing the embryo 
flower, and, by striking them, establish a new 
individual, convenient as to size, which being 
supported by a new set of active fibres, becomes 
vigorous in constitution. This is a concentration 
of the energies of the system, by which it is de- 
veloped in greater amplitude in all its parts ; and 
is also the sole and chief advantage of propaga- 
tion by pipings and layers. 

Pipings are easiest struck on a little artificial 
heat under bell or small hand-glasses. The size 
of the glasses determines the size of the pans or 
pots intended for the pipings. These are filled 
with proper compost, set in the bed, and the 
glasses fitted on to mark the boundary line with- 
in which the pipings are to be set: the next 
thing is to get and prepare the latter. 

At the second joint from the top of the shoot, 
the cutting is to be separated horizontally, and 
just below the joint. The leaves embracing this 
joint must be carefully stripped o£F ; and when 
the points of the leaves are also cut square oiF, 
the cutting is prepared. The mould in the pots 



CLOVE CARNATION. 159 

prepared for their reception should be previously 
watered; and, when somewhat settled, the 
pipings may be inserted, or gently stuck in, 
rather better than half an inch deep, and not 
too much crowded together. When the space 
within the glass is filled up, give water with a 
fine rose on the watering-pot, to settle the earth 
closely to the cuttings ; and when this water 
is absorbed and evaporated off, cover them with 
the glasses ; observing that, wherever they may 
be placed, whether in a hot or cold frame, or in 
a quiet corner in the open air, no full sun should 
have access to them, nor any unnecessary mois- 
ture be allowed to remain within the glass. 

The reasons for thus preparing and planting 
the cuttings require some explanation. The tops 
of the shoots are chosen, because we find that, 
wherever the growth is most active (so as the 
parts are sufficiently organized and substantial to 
resist the decomposing effects of moisture), there 
the fibrous rootlets are soonest produced, and 
much more vigorously than from the lower parts 
of the shoot. They are cut just below the node 



160 CULTIVATION. 

or joint, because these nodes contain several 
vital buds, v^^hich, like seeds, protrude fibres 
more promptly than the internodal parts. The 
tops of the leaves are cut off, because it is 
supposed that they draw a part of their nou- 
rishment from the stem, and therefore should 
be reduced while the cutting is forming its 
roots. Althouo'h this mutilation is directlv 
opposed to the modern doctrine of botanical 
physiologists respecting the elaborating func- 
tions of the leaves, yet in this case the practice 
seems to be right ; because the points, if allowed 
to remain, very soon die. But whether their 
juices be abstracted by the exertion of the cut- 
ting, or fail from the supply of sap from the root 
being cut off, I shall leave to the practitioner to 
judge. Before the fibres are protruded from the 
bottom of the piping, a callosity is first formed, 
as if exuded from within the inner bark ; from 
this the fibres are produced ; and while this cal- j 
losity continues to increase, the cutting lives, 
but, sometimes, will put forth no fibres till 
shifted into fresh compost. 



CLOVE CARNATION. 161 

Propagation by layers is more certain than 
that by cuttings, and is the most common method 
pursued, especially with the choicer sorts. The 
usual time is when the plants are in full flower, 
or immediately afterwards. Choose the shoots 
which are most conveniently placed for layering. 
Trim off all the leaves, except those at the extre- 
mity, which only require their ends shortened 
as is advised to be done with pipings. Then, 
clearing the surface of the pot or border, and 
stirring it up a little, lay on round the plant an 
addition of fine fresh compost of sufficient thick- 
ness to receive the layers. A bundle of little 
hooked sticks, about five inches long, should be 
previously got ready : those made from the stalks 
of fern will very well answer the purpose. A 
thin, keen penknife is most convenient for mak- 
ing the incisions. Lifting up the shoot with one 
hand, and bending it towards the stem of the 
plant, enter the knife about a quarter of an inch 
below the second joint from the top, sloping the 
edge inwards and upwards so as to divide the 
joint and shoot up the middle, nearly as far as the 

M 



162 CULTIVATION. 

joint above. The knife is withdrawn, and the 
small portion of the stem attached to and below 
the severed joint of the tongue is next cut off 
horizontally, close below, not into the joint. 
The bottom part of the layer is then to be fixed 
down close upon the surface by a hook placed 
just behind the incision ; and the extremity 
raised rather upright, so that the tongue may be 
separated some little distance from that part of 
the stem whence it has been cut ; propping the 
extremity secure by pressing the earth closely 
about it. It is almost needless to add, that the 
shoots, being brittle, and especially after the 
incision is made, they are easily broken ; so that 
they require very gentle handling while fixing 
them in due position. 

Many layers are lost, or prevented striking 
kindly, by being covered too deep. The end of 
the tongue, from whence the new roots chiefly 
proceed, should not be more than about half an 
inch beneath the surface. This circumstance 
should be particularly attended to in the treat- 
ment of carnation layers and cuttings, as well as 



CLOVE CARNATION. 163 

almost all other plants propagated by such means. 
A large portion of air, if it can be applied with- 
out lights seems necessary to excite the production 
of roots : thus cuttings, in immediate contact 
with the sides or bottom of striking pots, as 
well as near the surface, strike root more readily 
than if placed out of the reach or immediate 
action of the air. Precaution, however, is neces- 
sary, lest drought assail the delicate fibres so near 
its influence ; to guard against which, moderate 
waterings and shading must be had recourse to. 

In piping and layering carnations, there are 
several minor circumstances which should be 
mentioned in this place. Professional florists 
raise their pipings on a hot-bed, vv^hich, when of 
proper heat, is covered with suitable compost, on 
which the striking-glasses are set, and filled with 
pipings not too close together. Here they are 
nursed, and from hence they are potted off as 
soon as they advance in growth. This is a great 
advantage, because the growth of pipings is 
unequal; and according to their advancement 
should they be treated in respect of the supply 

M 2" 



164 CULTIVATION. 

of air and water. The use of small striking- 
glasses is, that they contain a snnall portion 
only of air, entirely excluded from the frequent 
changes of the atmosphere ; but this should be 
always kept as free as possible from damp, which 
can be done only by frequent and seasonable 
airings, on mornings or in mild weather. 

Pipings should be labelled; because, if the 
plant from which they have been taken prove a 
run flower^, its progeny will not be worth culti- 
vation. If a considerable number remain sta- 
tionary in the first bed, a second is made, to 
which they are transferred, and which seldom 
fails to start them. When all are in motion, the 
glasses may be laid aside. 

The pots containing carnations intended to 
be layered should be well watered the day be- 
fore ; and, if exposed to the morning sun for an 
hour or two before layering, it will give the 



* A run flower is one which runs from or loses that fine 
variety of colours for which it has been before admired, and 
by which it has been distinguished. 



CLOVE CARNATION. 165 

shoots a degree of toughness favourable to the 
operation. 

While layers are in progress, the only atten- 
tion they require is to see that they keep steady 
in their places ; that they do not get too dry ; 
nor the excised part become too much exposed to 
the air. 

Should the weather, and all other circum- 
stances prove favourable, the layers and cuttings 
will be sufficiently rooted to be potted in six or 
seven weeks. Pots, forty-eight to the cast, will 
be large enough to receive three cuttings or layers 
in each. These pots being drained and nearly 
filled with compost, the cuttings are carefully 
raised with a pointed stick or small iron spud, 
and placed at equal distances round the outside, 
covered in with compost, and well shaken or 
lightly pressed down securely in the pot, leaving 
the surface half an inch below the rim to receive 
waterings. The layers are cut from their stools 
just above where the incision was made, raised, 
and planted in pots in a similar manner. The 
young plants, after being duly watered, are 



166 CULTIVATION. 

removed to a shady situation, where, however, 
they can receive all the advantages of free air, 
morning' sun, regular watering, and defence from 
worms, insects, hares, and rabbits. Here they 
may remain to estabhsh themselves in the jjots, 
till the season renders their removal to their 
winter quarters necessary. 

The winter repository proper for the carna- 
tion, is, in every respect, like that advised for the 
auricula. It should be designed so as to admit 
fully all the temperate influences of the weather, 
and yet be capable of being formed into a com- 
plete defence against extremes. Small collec- 
tions are usually kept in common glazed hot- 
bed frames, set on a raised platform of coal-dust 
and ashes ; the frame being raised on bricks to 
allow a current of air to pass freely among the 
pots in fine weather; and let down close to the 
ground when it is inclement or stormy. Some- 
times the frame is filled nearly up to the glass 
w^ith coal-dust, and the pots plunged therein. 
In either way, when coverings of mats may be 
added at pleasure, the carnation can never suffer 



CLOVE CARNATION. 167 

iVom the rigour of winter. During this dead 
season, they will require water occasionally, ap- 
plied from the spout of a small pot, so as not to 
wet the leaves; because it may happen that if 
shut up when the leaves are wet, they may suffer 
by damp or mould. For the same reason the 
plants should be kept free from dead leaves, and 
have the surface of the pots now and then stirred 
up, and, if need be, covered with a sprinkling of 
sand. 

About the middle of March, and especially if 
the weather be inviting, preparations should be 
made for shifting the plants into their flowering 
pots. Any time between this and before the 
tenth of April, is a good season. The ordinary 
sized pots for this purpose, are those called six- 
teens ; and if the plants are strong, even twelves 
are not too large. These sizes are chosen in 
order that full room may be had for layering. 
The potting-board and compost (which will be 
described presently) being ready, first put the 
draining shells or shards over the hole in the 
bottom of the pot; cover these with a handful 



168 CULTIVATION. 

or two of the rough nodules that do not pass the 
sieve or screen ; then fill up with the fine com- 
post as far as is necessary to allow the reception 
of the plants. These, whether in pairs, threes, 
or fours, are turned out of the small pots, leaving 
the ball entire ; only taking away a little of the 
top and bottom ; place this in the middle of the 
large pot, very little deeper than it was before ; 
fill up round with the sifted compost, striking the 
pot several times on the ground or potting-board, 
to settle the contents equally and compactly; 
giving water immediately. 

At this time the number and kinds are selected 
for the stage (if so intended), together with a 
certain number of supernumeraries to supply 
blanks, should any occur. The remainder, if 
any, should be planted on a prepared border, to 
flower there. It is said that, if the stage plants 
were selected when first potted, and the surplus 
planted at once into a bed, they would stand 
the winter, with ordinary care, and flower better 
than if kept in pots till the spring. This, 
however, is always determined by the opinion or 



CLOVE CARNATION. 169 

convenience of the possessor. After being thus 
potted, they should be set in some convenient 
airy place, till they are sufficiently advanced to be 
set on the flowering* stage. Some cultivators 
place them on this stage at once, and erect the 
awning over them when necessary. 

During the ensuing period, the plants send 
forth their flower-stem ; and, soon as they have 
risen so as to be in jeopardy of falling, or being 
broken by the wind, suitable propping-sticks are 
thrust perpendicularly into the centre of the 
pot, to which the stems, as they advance in height, 
must be neatly and securely tied. These sticks 
are four feet long, made of good deal, and formed 
like an arrow : the part w^hich enters the earth 
is tapered off square, and the whole is painted of 
a lively green. 

By and by the flower-buds appear. One, 
two, or three, only, of these are suffered to blow : 
all others, together with any side-shoots issuing 
from the stem, should be displaced soon as they 
come forth. If the aphides shew themselves, 
banish them as soon as possible by the means 



170 CULTIVATION. 

herein-before mentioned; and be guarded against 
the attack of earwigs. Give plenty of water ; 
and, if the foliage is not of a deep, luxuriant 
green, revive it with manured water. 

Next follows the peculiar practice of the pro- 
fessional florist. Soon as the calyx, or pod, as it 
is technically called, begins to open at the top, 
fix a band of bass or waxed thread round its 
middle : this is to prevent the calyx bursting 
irregularly : and, as it naturally opens by its 
clefts parting from the top downwards, should 
one side incline to burst faster than the other, 
the cleft or clefts on the opposite side should be 
opened by the point of a penknife, to give free- 
dom to the petals to expand themselves equally 
all round. 

As some sorts and flowers expand before the 
generality of the collection, it is necessary to pre- 
serve these flowers till they are overtaken by the 
rest. For this purpose, funnel or rather umbrella 
shaped pasteboard shades are used, which, by a 
hole in the centre, are shpped on the flower-stick, 
and fixed just above the flowers. 



CLOVE CARNATION. 171 

Soon after this, all the best flowers will require 
additional assistance for the purpose of keeping 
the flowers in due form. This is called carding. 
Circular pieces of card-board, of any colour 
which will best answer the purpose of a back- 
ground to the flower^ are cut so as to surround 
the pod immediately behind the spreading petals 
of the corolla. They are about two inches and a 
half in diameter. The usual form of making 
them, is with a hole in the centre of the card, 
large enough to fit the pod, with a slit from that 
to the circumference, held open when put on. 
But an improved card is made by first dividing 
the circumference into six equal parts, and 
marked : between the opposite points or marks 
cuts are made through the centre, but not carried 
out to the circumference ; a margin, nearly an 
inch wide, being left entire all round, except at 
one place, to admit the stem. When this card is 
put on, the stem below the pod is first taken in, 
and, by raising the card to its place, the angular 
points, meeting at the centre, give way outwards. 



172 CULTIVATION. 

and, being elastic, firmly embrace the lower part 
of the pod, which keeps it in place. 

Besides this carding the flowers, which keeps 
the petals in due lateral position, another mani- 
pulation is bestowed in dressing a show-flower ; 
i. e. by arranging the petals themselves, puUing 
out bad-coloured or redundant ones, and placing 
all the rest in regular order. This branch of the 
knowledge of a real and thorough-bred florist, 
Mr. Hogg says, is a rare accomplishment, and 
exercised adroitly but by few. 

The flowers, when full blown, are too heavy 
to be trusted to the sole support of their own slen- 
der peduncles. They should also be gracefully 
disposed to meet the eye of the spectator. For 
this purpose, small pieces of brass or copper wire, 
about three or four inches long, having a spiral 
crook at one end, to hold the stem, and sharp at 
the other, to be inserted into the stick, serve to 
secure the flowers in the desired position. 

When the plants and flowers are all thus 
disposed^ and in progress towards perfection (the 



CLOVE CARNATION. 173 

awning in the mean time being erected, and 
the paste-board caps or shades all removed), the 
owner has little to do but enjoy the fine spectacle ; 
mark the excellencies of some, and note down the 
defects of others ; observe the effects of any 
change made in the management ; try cross- 
impregnation between those whose properties of 
growth, form, or colour, he may wish to blend ; 
remembering, however, to keep such plants but 
as short a time as possible within the awning, as 
they should have full air and light as soon as it 
is likely they are fecundified. 

Old plants, having several healthy shoots not 
wanted for either pipings or layers, may be kept 
through the winter, and either repotted with the 
rest or turned out into the flower borders in the 
spring. 

Carnations continue in bloom about three 
weeks ; and, as they become rather enfeebled 
under the confinement of the awning, they should 
be restored to full air and light soon as their 
beauty is over, and the business of layering 



174 CULTIVATION. 

begun, to g-o over again the course of culture 
which has been already traced. 

The distinguishing characters of carnations in 
regard to each other, as applied by florists, are : 

Bizarres^ ; scarlet, crimson, purple, and pink 
and purple. 

Flakes ; scarlet, purple, rose, and pink. 

" Bizarres, or such as contain two colours upon 
a white ground, are esteemed rather preferable to 
flakes, which have but one, especially when their 
colours are remarkably rich and very regularly 
distributed. Scarlet, purple, and pink, are the 
three colours most predominant in the carnation : 
the two first are seldom to be met with in the 
same flower ; but the two last are very fi^-equently. 
When the scarlet predominates, and is united with 
a paler colour, or, as it sometimes happens, with 
a very deep purple upon a white ground, it con- 
stitutes a scarlet bizarre, of which there are many 
shades and varieties, some richer and others paler 



* Or Bizards. 



CLOVE CARNATION. 175 
in their colours, as is the case with all the rest. 

I Pink bizarres, are so called when the pink colour 
abounds: Purple bizarres, when the purple 
abounds. Crimson bizarres consist of a deep 
purple and rich pink. When the pink flake is 
very high in colour, it is distinguished by the 
appellation of rose flake ; but some there are so 
nearly in the medium betwixt a pink and scarlet, 
that it can scarcely be defined to which class they 
belong." — Madd. 

Compost. — All our experience proves that the 
carnation requires a simpler combination of sub- 
stances to flourish in than most other stage flowers. 
Fresh maiden loam, not too adhesive, rotten or 
old hot-bed dung, and sand, are the ingredients. 
The proportions are : three barrowfuls of loam ; 

I two ditto of rotten dung ; and one ditto of drift, 
sea, or river sand. 

These, put together in September, turned 
several times during the winter, and sifted or 
screened previous to the potting season, is all 
the preparation necessary. 

This is nearly what Mr. Hogg recommends. 



176 CULTIVATION. 

But, in November, he adds about half a barrow- 
ful of newly slacked lime, and early in the 
spring, two or three pounds of common salt. 
Both these substances are particularly useful to 
kill or drive worms and slugs from the compost; 
which is of most material consequence in the cul- 
ture of a plant that is at all seasons the prey of 
snails and slugs. Whether these substances also 
add to the qualities of the soil necessary for the 
carnation, is not so certain; further than as they 
both are, in all other cases, absorbents, tending to 
keep the soil more moist, both in summer and 
v^inter, than it would otherwise be. To assist the 
vigorous expansion of the leaves and flowers of 
this plant, it has been recommended to water 
them occasionally with a weak solution of nitre. 

For top-dressing in June, finely sifted rotten 
dung is most proper, as well in yielding nutriment 
conveyed down by each watering, as acting as a 
mulch in repelling drought. 

For pipings and layers, the best mixture is : 
one barrowful of loam; one ditto of leaf-mould; 
one of rotten hot-bed dung; and one of fine sand. 



CLOVE CARNATION. 177 

" Hig'h-coioured bizarre s flower well in soil 
composed of two-thirds fresh sandy loam and 
one-third well-rotted stable- dung*. Scarlet, rose, 
or purple flakes require equal parts of maiden 
loam and rotten dung." — Cornfield, in Gard, 
Mag. 

I There are some varieties of carnations which 
are, more than others, liable *' to run'' from their 
distinguishing colours, and thereby lose their 
value. All the varieties are subject to this dete- 
rioration at certain times, and under circum- 
stances not easily accounted for. They occa- 
sionally lose their variegation, whether they are 
placed in rich or in poor soil. But, as the car- 
nation has been brought from deep to lighter 
colours by cultivation, and as it is evident that 
deeper colours are imparted by the application 
of strons; or rich animal substances, Mr. Hoffo: 
is perfectly right in advising to lower the quality 
of the compost to prevent this casualty. For this 

I purpose he recommends " three barrows of sound 
loam; one ditto rotten cow- dung; two ditto 
ditto horse-dung ; half a ditto sand ; and half a 

N 



178 CULTIVATION. 

ditto of lime rubbish or old plaster broken small, 
to be prepared and well mixed together." 

Of this compost I have only to observe, that 
the cow-dung had better be left out; for, though 
it may improve the high colours of scarlet and 
crimson bizarres, it will be likely to cause some 
of them to go back to their original hue. 

Of the picotee. — The picotee is another variety 
of the clove. It is hardier, and more easy of 
cultivation generally, than the carnation ; and 
holds the middle station between this and the 
pink. It partakes of the nature of both ; and it 
may not be a very irrational supposition, that it 
was originally a joint production between them ; 
though, probably, the picotee was in existence 
before the carnation; and, if so, is more likely to 
have been " a sport" between the clove and the 
pink. Be this as it may, it is a very interesting 
variety of the genus, and though not allowed a 
place among carnations, lest it should deterio- 
rate their forms and colours, it is still every way 
v/orthy to receive a share of their treatment, 
with which it will do well. 



PICOTEE. 179 

Of picotees there are many sorts, chiefly dif- 
fering in their colour and various markings; 
viz. besides the common ones in every English 
garden, there are yellow and purple ; yellow and 
dark red; yellow and scarlet, &c. They are 
much cultivated on the Continent, particularly 
those having a yellow ground colour : and such 
of them as have been introduced here appear to 
be more delicate in constitution than our com- 
mon sorts, and require a drier atmosphere than 
our climate usually affords. Therefore they 
should have the driest place in the frame in 
winter, and never be too much watered. vYhen 
they are more generally known and propagated 
in this country, their habits may becom.e robust, 
and their cultivation better understood. Mr. 
Hogg advises them to be grown in compost like 
that made up for piping and layering carnations. 

The common picotee being a flower of the 
greatest diversity of colours and variety of mark- 
ings by accident, gives reason to imagine, that it 
would be particularly susceptible of impressions 
from the hand of the curious florist. It is worth a 

N 2 



ISO CULTIVATION. 

trial : a new form of petals may be communicated 
from the carnation, and it may receive a yellow 
tinge from the yellow picotee ; and, however 
such crossing might interfere with the ready- 
made taste and fixed rules of the fancy, still a 
new description and variety of dianthus may be 
obtained, as worthy of admiration as the others. 

Their cultivation is exactly like that of the 
carnation. They may be raised from seed, and 
propagated by layers and pipings ; succeeding by 
the latter mode rather better than the carnation. 

It is desirable to procure seed from Italy and 
the southern parts of France and Spain. The 
dianthus tribe is universally cultivated in the 
latter kingdom, where they have innumerable 
varieties. 



181 



DIANTHUS HORTENSIS. 

COMMON PINK. 

Class, DECANDRIA. Order, DIGYNIA. 
Natural Order, CARYOPHYLLE 



The pink is cultivated every where, often 
being the principal ornament of the cottage 
garden. Its manner of growth, flowering, cul- 
tivation, and propagation, are all similar to the 
carnation. 

For the purpose of forcing, for sale, or for 
placing in conservatories, green or dwelling 
houses, they are kept in pots ; but for flowering 
in perfection they are planted on prepared beds 
in the open ground. 

Although pinks may be propagated by layers, 
it is seldom such care is bestov/ed ; they striking 
so readily by pipings. 



182 CULTIVATION. 

The beds s?iould be prepared in September, 
much in. the same way as is directed for the car- 
nation. The surface should be raised two or 
three inches above the natural level of the 
ground, and laid rounding, or highest along the 
middle, to throw off immoderate wet. The 
plants should be put in about nine inches apart; 
and, in order to have them strong, they should 
be piped as early in the season as possible, and 
soon as sufficiently rooted should be transferred 
to a nursery bed, to gain strength before they 
are put out for good. 

They may require occasional defence in rigid 
weather, by hoops and mats ; and after being 
hoed among in the spring, and the soil made 
firm round their stems if necessary, receive a 
covering of sifted rotten dung, about an inch 
thick. This will be a source of nutriment to the 
plants, and prevent the bed becoming too dry. 
Vv^hen they throw up the flower stems, these 
should be reduced in number according to the 
size of the plant. The fewer there are allowed 
to stand, the stronger will be those that are left. 



COMMON PINK. 183 

They have received their generic name from 
the circumstance of their fine scent, and magni- 
ficence of their numerous flowers. These should 
be reduced : one, or at most two, besides the 
central flower, is enough. The flower-pods 
should be assisted to open regularly, by girding, 
&c. as practised with carnations ; as well as 
carding, tying up, shading, and always well 
supplied with water. 

The pink is easily susceptible of cross im- 
pregnation, and many new varieties are obtained 
by such means. M. Fries-Morel, a French florist, 
advises it to be done in the following manner: — 
''Just before sunrise, open carefully the flower 
to be operated on, and abstract the anthers with 
small pincers. About eight or nine o'clock place 
the ripe pollen upon the stigma of the flower, and 
repeat this two or three times in the course of the 
same day. If the act of impregnation has taken 
place, the flower will fade in twenty-four or 
thirty-six hours ; but if not, the flower will 
remain in full beauty ; in which case the attempt 



184 CULTIVATION. 

must be repeated. This should always be done 
in fine serene weather, and care should be taken 
to defend the impregnated flower from rain and 
mists." — Annates de la Soc. Hort. Paris, 

The cultivation and improvement of this 
highly and universally esteemed flower has been 
greatly extended within these last few years, and 
the new varieties are wonderfully fine ; some of 
them even vying with the carnation : still there 
is room for further improvement. 

Description of a fine double pink, — "The stem 
should be strong, elastic, and erect, and not 
less than twelve inches high. The calyx rather 
smaller and shorter, but nearly similar in form 
and proportion to that of a carnation ; the flower 
should be also similar in form, and not less than 
two and a half inches diameter. 

" The petals should be large, broad, and sub- 
stantial, and have very fine fringed or serrated 
edges, free from large, coarse, deep notches or 
indentures; in short, they approach nearest to 
perfection when the fringe or the edge is so fine 



COMMOiN PINK. 185 

as scarcely to be discernible : but it would be 
considered a very desirable object to obtain them 
perfectly rose-leaved, i. e. without any fringe at 
all. 

" The broadest part of the petals should be 
perfectly white and distinct from the eye, unless 
it be ornamented by a continuation of the colour 
of the eye round it, when it would be called a 
laced pink ; and this lacing should be well de- 
fined, leaving a considerable proportion of white 
in the centre, perfectly free from any tinge or 
spot. 

" The eye should consist of a bright or dark 
rich crimson or purple, resembling velvet ; but 
the nearer it approaches to black, the more it is 
esteemed; its proportion should be about equal 
to that of the white, that it may neither appear 
too large or too small." — Madd. 

Although specific directions have been given 
for the cultivation and treatment of the several 
kinds of flowering plants herein-before men- 
tioned ; each being described as coming into 



186 CULTIVATION. 

bloom at the natural season ; yet it must be ob- 
served, that the business of a florist is, not only 
to have flowers in season, but out of season also. 
By choosing" the time of planting", many kinds 
may be made to flower at other seasons than they 
would do if left to nature. The florist should 
therefore avail himself of every such practical 
expedient, in order that his beds and borders 
may always present something pleasing to the 
eye. Many flowering plants which would be 
destroyed by the first frost, may, if placed in pots, 
be removed to a place of safety; or, if not in pots, 
preserved by a slight covering. Early flowers 
may be forwarded by having a winters pro- 
ectioD ; and especially by a little spring forcing. 
All biennial flowers, as stocks and wallflowers; 
and perennials, as cyclamens, &c., may be ad- 
vanced into bloom at an acceptable season, as 
well as many other annuals and perennials that are 
ornamental. The florist should never be bound 
by the naked rules laid down in this or any 
other book ; but think for himself how he 



COMMON PINK. 187 

may best accommodate the public — his employer 
— or his own fancy. Nature, though she cannot 
be violently thwarted, may be led to answer many 
purposes of skilful art. 

The foregoing are the bed and stage flowers 
commonly cultivated in Britain. It is surprising 
with what ardour this art is followed, not only 
among professional men, whose interest is a suf- 
ficiently powerful incentive, but by those of very 
different avocations who have nothing but the 
pure love of flowers to induce, and intense en- 
thusiasm to excite them to cultivate those gems 
of vegetation for their own gratification. This 
species of amusement may be undervalued by 
the utilitarian, as a vain employment; but nothing 
can be called useless which so mainly administers 
to innocent, mental, and social enjoyment. 

As these pages are written entirely with a view 
to assist and encourage this rational pursuit, and 
as the foregoing are not the only flowers which 
deserve a place in the villager's or cottager's 
garden, it will not be superfluous to add a list of 



188 CULTIVATION. 

hardy herbaceous flowers which are as admirable 
in themselves, as they are easy of cultivation. 
See list No. 1, of the Appendix. 



1S9 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 



In order to make this little work of more 
general utility, it is deemed expedient to add 
somewhat on the subject of tender exotic flowers. 
Many who are engaged in the cultivation of bed 
and stage flowers have, or may have collections 
of exotics also, in hot-houses, green-houses, or 
conservatories ; to whom the following observa- 
tions may not be wholly useless or unacceptable. 

Of the hot-house and its plants. Hot-houses are 
glazed structures for the preservation of tropical 
exotics. They are designed for the cultivation 
of fruit, particularly the pine-apple ; and like- 
wise for plants that are either curious in form or 
remarkable for the beauty of their foliage, or 
splendour of their flowers. To imitate the na- 
tive climate of tropical plants, a high degree of 
heat from fire, steam, or hot-water flues, must be 



190 CULTIVATION. 

maintained at all seasons, when required. Not 
only the air of the house must be kept at the 
temperature of not less than 60°, and with power 
to increase it, but the pit containing' the pots 
must be filled with tanner's bark, or some other 
fomenting substance, to produce a strongly ex- 
citing bottom heat. By this artificial climate 
many plants are preserved, flowered, and fruited 
in great perfection. 

It has been questioned how far the custom of 
using fermenting substances for the roots of tro- 
pical plants is right or necessary. Comparing 
the heat of their native soil with that which w^e 
give them here, is one way of ascertaining the 
requisite degree ; but in this point we do not 
imitate nature exactly; because, in no situation 
v/ithin the tropics, except perhaps the barren 
African sands, is the soil (where there is any 
moisture at all) ever so warm as the bark bed of a 
hot-house ; and, therefore, it may appear that 
we are at unnecessary pains and expense in 
giving such bottom heat. That we are so with 
plants which we only wish to keep in existence, 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 191 

or only to flower once in the year, tliere can be 
no doubt ; because the heat in the air of the 
house ^vill be sufficiently imparted to the soil in 
it. And thoug'h this custom may have been only 
accidentally adopted from what was found ne- 
cessary for pines, yet it need not be persisted 
in, except for those or other fruits. Even its 
necessity for fruits has been doubted ; but such 
doubts are injudicious, because, in the case of 
fruit, we must not only provide the necessary 
temperature for their existence, but must also 
force them to yield their fruit in the shortest 
time possible, to save expense and trouble. This, 
therefore, should be the rule, that with pines, 
mangoes, annonas, bananas, mangosteens, &c. 
the roots require to be excited by heat as much 
as, and perhaps even more than, the fiovrei s and 
foliage ; but for the other common inmates of a 
hot-house, they do very well wdthout, especially 
if the heat of steam or hot water be provided. 

Collections of hot-house plants are first formed 
by purchases from commercial houses, or from 
seeds or plants imported from their native places 



192 CULTIVATION. 

abroad, and are afterwards kept up by methods 
of propagation, about to be adverted to. 

When seeds are received from abroad, it is of 
considerable importance to know^, not only what 
latitude they come from, but also the elevation of 
their natural habitat above the level of the sea. 
The higher the elevation, the hardier is the plant. 
Many plants v^^hich may be supposed to require 
a hot-house, from the latitude whence they come, 
may be found hardy enough for the green-house, 
or even the open air, if they be seasonal* plants. 
But for the natives of low lands of the torrid 
zone, the usual process of raising them is as 
follows : 

If possible, they should be sowed so as to 
meet our summer, not our winter. The spring 
months are most propitious for raising exotics. 
For this purpose, light sandy loam, convenient 
sized perfectly clean pots (open thirty-twos), 
and a one-light hot-bed, should be prepared. 



* Seasonal plants are such as grow in one season and rest 
in another. 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 193 
The pots are filled in the ordinary way, the finest 
of the loam at top ; the seeds are sown thin, or 
thickly, according to their size, and in depth ac- 
cording to the nature of the plant. Some vegetate 
sooner, by being soaked two or three hours in 
water; others having very hard shells, as Nelum- 
bium and other aquatics, should have the points 
of their shells filed off before they are put into 
their pans of mud and water ; but the generality 
need no such preparation. They require a smart 
bottom heat to start them ; some will be up in the 
course of a week, others will remain for twelve 
months before they vegetate; and such should 
not be rashly thrown away, till it is ascertained 
by examination that they are really dead. This 
precaution is particularly necessary in regard of 
nuts. 

When any are advanced so far as to be fit to 
handle, they should be put singly into the smallest 
sized pots, and again plunged in heat. Atten- 
tion should be given not to over-pot them, i. e. 
by placing them in over-large pots. It has been 
already observed, in speaking of layers and cut- 



194 CULTIVATION. 

tings of hardy plants, that the point most favour- 
able to the formation and production of roots is 
but at a little distance below the surface ; and 
that humid darkness within the influence of air 
excites the protrusion of roots more readily than 
at depths beyond the influence of that element. 
Small pots, therefore, to which air has free access 
on all sides, are found to forward the plants 
they contain much better than large pots, which, 
containing a mass impervious to air, the centre of 
which is occupied by the infant plant, are found 
to retard rather than advance their growth. That 
plants so placed require frequent shifting, is true ; 
but this is all in their favour, if quick growth be 
desirable. 

After this period of their nursing, they then 
take their places in the hot-house, either plunged 
in the bark-bed, or set on the shelves over tbe 
flues, or on the kirb of the pit. 

Hot-house plants are also propagated by cut- 
tings. Much judgment is necessary in selecting 
such shoots as are proper. They should be shoots 
or parts of shoots of the present year ; either of 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 195 

the leading shoots, which make the handsomest 
plants (if not too rampant and succulent for the 
purpose), or from the lateral shoots, which are 
often best fitted by moderate growth for striking. 
These last, too, make more bushy heads, and 
flower sooner than free-growing cuttings taken 
from more vigorous parts of a plant. The tops 
of the shoots should be chosen, if sufficiently 
ripened; but a well chosen part of the middle 
may succeed equally well. Prepare them by 
cutting the lower end transversely, close below a 
joint, if it be a jointed stemmed plant, or just 
below the insertion of a leaf, if otherwise ; trim- 
ming off the lower leaves close, but leaving those 
at. the top. The cutting should not be long \ 
two inches is enough of any hard-wooded plant. 
The same kind should be put in the same pot; 
open forties are a convenient size. When filled, 
the soil should be pressed in pretty tight, and the 
cuttings inserted nearly an inch deep with a 
&mall pointed dibber, by which the earth is 
pressed close to the bottom of the cutting. When 
the pot is filled, level and press the surface smooth^ 

o2 



196 CULTIVATION. 

give water immediate!}^, plunge the pots in the 
bed, and, when the moisture is exhaled from 
their surfaces, cover them closely with the strik- 
ing-glasses, to prevent the entrance of air. These 
glasses are necessary, because neither the cuttings 
nor the soil they are in should be exposed to the 
ordinary changes of the atmosphere. They re- 
quire perfect repose while they are only dependent 
on their own inherent energies to furnish new 
organs to supply the place of those from which 
they have been separated. The sun*s heat may 
be serviceable, but not his direct rays ; brown 
paper shades should therefore be used for each 
glass in the middle of the day. Moisture will 
collect from time to time within the glasses ; in 
which cases they should be taken off for a few 
minutes, wiped dry, and put on again. 

When cuttings thus managed have taken root, 
and shew by their growth that this has suffi- 
ciently taken place (for some will occasionally 
produce shoots before they have roots), they 
may be separated, potted, and treated as already 
directed for seedlings. 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 197 

A late writer in the periodical publications of 
the Societe d'Agronoinie of France reports, that 
he strikes cuttings of stove plants, which have 
very small or no visible buds, much more easily 
in phials of water sunk in the bark-bed than in 
mould. In this way he readily succeeds with 
Oleander, Portlandia, and Blakea. 

These are the ordinary methods of propagat- 
ing both hot-house and green-house plants by 
seeds and cuttings that are of a woody nature, as 
well as suflPruticose ; i. e. half shrubby sorts. 
Many are increased by suckers which rise from 
their roots, or by offsets which proceed from the 
collet of their stems. All the succulent tribe, 
as Aloes, Messembryanthemums, Cactus, &c. are 
propagated by offsets or portions of their stems. 
Some few grow from leaves, as Bryophyllum, 
Xylophylla; others by a leaf and bud only, as 
Hoya, &c. * Tuberous or fibrous-rooted plants 
which are herbaceous, are increased by parting*' 
the roots ; and bulbs which do not readily pro- 
duce offsets may be made to do so by cutting off 



Ii98 CULTIVATION. 

j 

the upper part of the bulb transversely, as has I 
been aheady mentioned. 

Such sorts as do not readily strike from cut- 
tings are increased by layering, grafting, or bud- 
ding. Layers are the points of the shoots, in- 
serted into pots filled with loam, and placed 
conveniently to receive them ; and, when layered 
in the usual way (that is, by tonguing or twisting 
a little the part placed in the soil, and there fixed), 
are covered with a striking-glass till they make 
roots, when they may be separated from the 
parent plants. 

Grafting stove plants is commonly done by 
" approach." The stocks are raised in pots, for 
the convenience of placing them near to the 
shoots with which they are to be enarched. The 
stock and scion should be nearly of a size : and, 
at the most convenient point of contact, similar 
slices of bark and wood are cut from the opposing 
sides ; these, placed neatly together, are bound 
and clayed. The clay should be kept moist, 
which is easily done by bending a wrap of moss 
round it, and now and then watered. 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 199 

A new method of grafting by approach has 
been lately practised, and which deserves notice. 
The inconvenience of placing or supporting the 
stocks round the tree intended to be propagated, 
and the fact, that this mode of grafting is success- 
ful only because the scion continnes to receive 
from its parent a part of its support while uniting 
itself with the stock, suggested the idea that, if 
the scion received a supply by other means, the 
junction would as readily take place,. Accord- 
ingly, a scion is separated entirely, and united by 
its middle to the stock in the manner of grafting 
by approach, and its end below the junction is 
inserted into a small phial of water suspended 
from the stock. Thus the scion receives from the 
water what, in the old way, it received from its 
parent. So readily does the union take place, 
that it sometimes happens (in the case of Camel- 
lias particularly) that the lower part of the scion 
appears to partake so far of the vigour of the 
stock, that it also forms roots in the phial, and 
when separated and potted, becomes a plant itself. 
There is no doubt, but that many hard-wooded 



200 CULTIVATION. 

plants, both in the hot-house and elsewhere, may 
be propagated in this manner. 

Working exotic plants, whether by graft or 
bud, has not been practised in this country so 
much perhaps as it should be ; not, however, 
for the object of increasing the kinds, but for 
another purpose, viz. predisposing the plants to 
yield their flow^ers, or fruit, earlier than they 
otherwise do. The effect of working plants is 
well known. A grafted or budded tree is ren- 
dered less vigorous in habit, and consequently 
sooner arrives at that stage of its existence in 
which it shews flowers and fruit. A graft, at- 
tached to a suitable and congenial stock, has no 
period of youth to go through. The scion is or 
may be taken from the already matured branches. 
It is doing in the vegetable world what is seldom 
practicable in the moral ; viz. *' putting an old 
head on young shoulders." This we invariably 
do with our fruits ; and why may it not be done 
with our flowering plants? A seedling Camellia, 
for instance, will not flower in less than three or 
four, whereas a graft will flower in one or two 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 201 

years. If our hot-house trees were dwarfed by 
the same means, that is, by transferring the top- 
most shoots to the bottom of the stem, it would 
not only keep the plant in a more convenient 
size, but bring them sooner into flower and fruit. 
The splendid Bomhax ceiba,Allemanda cathartica, 
Barringtonia indica, Mschynomene grandijlora^ 
&c. &c. are plants well worthy such trial. With 
hot-house fruits, such as the Mango, this treat- 
ment would certainly be a great improvement ; 
and of this fine fruit it should be known, that 
there are many varieties of it differing mate- 
rially in their quality ; some are inferior because 
of the stringiness of their pulp, whilst others are 
as free from that defect as are our best melting 
peaches; such only should be imported for cul- 
tivation. The Garcinia mangostana^ one of the 
most delicious tropical fruits, has been fruited in 
France. I mention this as a proof that our present 
expensive old-fashioned stoves may be productive 
of something else besides mere showy plants. 
The ordinary attention to a hot-house, is, as- 



202 CULTIVATION. 

siduity in keeping up the stock by propagation ; 
a careful nicety in potting and shifting in the 
proper season ; a regularity in watering when 
requisite ; a knowledge of the necessay tempe- 
rature to be kept in the house, and a steady 
attention to cleanliness, and habits of the plants 
in general. 

The collection should undergo a thorough 
examination about the middle of April. At this 
time the plants are shifted into new and some- 
what larger pots, if necessary ; at least, they are 
turned out of their old pots, part of the ex- 
hausted soil taken away, decayed roots cut off, 
and then are replaced in fresh pots and compost. 
The heads are also pruned into form, and neatly 
tied up to stakes. While the plants are under 
this treatment, they should be guarded against 
cold winds while the old bark is sifted, new 
added, and all well mixed. The bark, when 
finished, should be about six inches above the 
kirb, and levelled to allow the plants to be set 
upon it till the fresh fermentation raised in the 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 203 

bed has subsided, when the plants may be, at 
first, half plunged ; and, when the heat is still 
further decreased, let in as deep as their rims. 
Some very successful cultivators never plunge 
the pots, but merely set them on the bed. 

When a plant is turned out of a pot, the roots 
are found in a matted state round the outside ; 
the usual practice is to cut these away with a 
knife ; but it is only very free growing sorts that 
can bear such treatment; a better way is, to 
loosen this tissue of fibres gently, so that the 
new soil may get among and preserve them for 
immediate service. 

After the plants are shifted, and again set in 
their places in the pit, the house should be kept 
rather close, moist, and at a temperature of not 
less than 60° Fahrenheit. The management, 
afterwards, consists only in duly watering, giving 
air, &c. till Midsummer, when fire heat is dis- 
continued; the pots (if plunged) are lifted out of 
the bark and set on the surface for a few days pre- 
vious to removing them (if the summer weather 
be confirmed) into the green-house for a few 



204 CULTIVATION. 

weeks. The tenderest, most valuable, or sickly 
among them, however, must not be so exposed, 
but re-plunged in some other bed suitable for them. 
Those placed in the green-house should have 
full air in the middle of the day, but shut up on 
nights. In September the bark-pit in the stove 
must be again got ready for the plants, by add- 
ing fresh bark, white-washing and cleaning the 
walls and flues of the house, &c., and soon as 
this is all done, the plants may be brought back 
to their place, but not immediately plunged till 
the state of the bed is fit for them. About the 
middle of October fire heat is again applied; 
the state of the weather regulates this, as well as 
giving air, watering, &c., and, as the winter sets 
in, neither much air nor water will be required ; 
at least, considerable caution must be bestov/ed 
in applying these elements. About Christmas 
the bark-bed will require another addition of 
fresh bark, turning, &c. In doing this, the ut- 
most expedition must be used to get the plants 
replaced, especially if the season be severe. 
Should the fresh heat, thus obtained, fail before 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 205 

the general potting time, the bark must be again 
turned^ to keep up the necessary temperature. 

Hot-house plants are very liable to be preyed 
on and disfigured by insects, especially the red 
acarus (not spider, as it is erroneously called), 
the different species of coccus, as well as the 
universal plague, the aphis. The dry heat of a 
stove is peculiarly favourable to these insects, 
and, unless the house is heated by, and fre- 
quently saturated with steam, the plants rarely 
look healthy. But this is not suitable for all; 
succulent plants, which are natives of hot rocky 
countries, need but little water, and, conse- 
quently, require dry air. It is evident, there- 
fore, that a collection of tropical plants cannot 
all be cultivated properly in the same house. 

Hot-houses in the conservatory style are by 
far the most interesting, and may be the most 
magnificent of our horticultural buildings. Many 
plants of the torrid zone are nothing while con- 
fined to a pot or tub, however large. But when 
planted in prepared ground, and covered with 
a sufficiently lofty glazed roof, the plants, and 



206 CULTIVATION. 

especially the towering palms, plantains, &c. 
have space to throw out their ample and persist- 
ing foHage. Every plant in such a place ap- 
pears in something like its natural character; 
and, though the want of such buildings has been 
long regretted, it is only lately that such houses 
have been erected. Some splendid things of 
the kind have been executed, and others are in 
progress. Circumstances favourable to such 
designs have conspired to facilitate such under- 
takings ; better taste, curvilinear iron roofs, and 
much improved means of obtaining the neces- 
sary degree of heat, have all tended to reahze 
what has only heretofore been a gardener's 
dream. 

This is not the place to enlarge on what maybe 
done in this way. But, certainly, one handsome 
building as a conservatory, divided by glazed 
partitions, to contain a choice selection of tender 
plants from every clime, would be far preferable 
to the miserable shed-like buildings which now 
disfigure almost every garden in Britain. It 
only requires a proper distribution of heat to. 



EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 207 
imitate every climate, and to suit the nature of 
every plant on the face of the earth. Gradations 
of temperature may be obtained, and decreasing- 
on each side from the central and lofty equatorial 
stove, through all the degrees of the temperate 
zones, befitting the vegetable beauties of every 
degree of longitude as well as latitude. The 
south European, African, Asiatic, and American 
fruits and flowers, may all be exhibited in one 
suitable and highly ornamental range. Nor need 
such disposition encroach on the general col- 
lector's aim ; sufficient space for stages, shelves, 
and platforms would be had for the disposal of 
potted plants ; and, besides the whole being so 
connected, would very much reduce the first 
cost of erection, as well as lessen the subsequent 
expense of keeping up. 

If, with such comprehensive view, we con- 
template what may be accomplished in the con- 
struction of forcing-houses for fruits also, the 
practical gardener or designer must be blind 
who cannot perceive the incalculable advantages 
that may be derived from a judicious arrange- 



208 CULTIVATION^ 

ment of such buildings. Not only the pine- 
apple, but all other tropical fruits worth cultiva- 
tion, might be had for the tables of the opulent, 
and those already in cultivation might be had at 
much less expense. As this subject is, however, 
foreign to the purpose of this compendium, it 
need not be noticed further. 



209 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



A GREEN-HOUSE is, perhaps, one of our oldest 
horticultural buildings. They, it is probable, 
were first erected for the purpose of keepin^^ 
exotic evergreen plants, particularly Oranges and 
Myrtles. Wherever Italian or Grecian architec- 
ture was introduced, the sweetest Itahan plants 
were a necessary accompaniment. Hence arose 
those heavy buildings usually attached as a wing 
to palaces; which, though capacious enough for 
very large trees, were by no means suitable 
either for the protection or health of them. 

The increasing love of botany, together with 
the constantly increasing numbers of curious 
exotics introduced to our gardens, called for 
lighter and better glazed structures for their 
reception and preservation ; and, consequently, 
green-houses have been progressively improv- 

p 



210 CULTIVATION. 

ing in design and extent, even up to this day. 
They usually contain all the hardiest plants 
of the torrid zone, Chinese, Australian, south 
African, and the tender plants of North and 
South America. 

Green-house plants are raised from seed, and 
most easily porpagated by cuttings and layers, 
much in the same way as has been directed for 
stove plants ; only they do not require, in any 
stage of their existence, so much heat. The 
degree called temperate, 56^ Fahrenheit, is most 
suitable for them in all seasons. Grafting is also 
a means of propagation, and is decidedly the 
best for such plants as the Camellia, Orange, &c. 

Various kinds of soil and compost are neces- 
sary in the cultivation ; sandy loam, rich loam, 
moor-earth, m.ore or less mixed with sand, leaf- 
mould and Hme, or rather old mortar rubbish. 
Except Oranges, Lemons, and Citrons, no other 
plant in this department requires a manured soil. 
The grand object is to keep them in the highest 
health, without forcing them into over luxuriant 
growth. When a green-house shrub, or tree, 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 211 

arrives at a flowering state, and is of a handsome 
form, is all that is requisite. Rambling, irregular 
growths become extremely inconvenient in such 
collections, and can only be kept in order by the 
knife, or turned out altogether. 
- Seeds of the generality of green-house plants, 
whether saved at home, or received from abroad, 
should be sown in fine, light, sandy loam, about 
the beginning of February. They thus have the 
advantage of the approaching spring and summer 
to arrive at such a size as will allow of them being 
potted separately before the autumn. Free grow- 
ing sorts may be sown later. The pots should 
be thoroughly watered soon as the seeds are 
sown, and ever after kept in a moderately damp 
state, and placed in a hot-bed, or in a dry, airy 
part of the house, where they will not be too 
much exposed to heat, either of fire or sun, but 
enjoy an equal temperature. 

Diminutive or wiry growing plants, such as 
j heaths, are best sowed in autumn ; because, their 
I progress being at first very slow, they require to 
remain in the seed-pots nearly twelve months 

p 2 



212 CULTIVATION. 

before they can be potted out singly. Seeds of 
curious or valuable sorts should not be sowed all 
at once : a first sowing* may fail, whereas a second 
may succeed. If, when the seedlings are rising, 
there should be much sunshine, they should be 
shaded in the middle of the day, lest they get 
parched. No weeds should be allowed to rise 
among them ; nor should the surface be covered 
with moss if it can be prevented ; though if it 
rises with the seeds, w^hich is very frequently the 
case, it cannot then be taken away. 

Soon as the green-house becomes too dry a 
station for them (which it certainly will be about 
the end of May), the seed-pots should be removed 
to some shady border, and plunged up to their 
rims in sand, or coal-dust. This will keep the 
mould in the pots in equal temperament as to 
moisture ; and being free from the excitement of 
the sun, and receiving full air, occasional water- 
ing and protection from worms and insects, the 
plants will get hardy, stocky in growth, and soon 
fit to be transferred to small pots. V/hen a spare 
frame, or part of a glass-covered pit can be had 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 213 

for the reception of the seedlings in this stage of 
their gTOvvth, it should be preferred ; because 
they can not only be shaded when necessary, 
but also defended from heavy rain, which is 
sometimes hurtful. 

As the seedlings get large enough for potting, 
the different kinds of soil and compost should 
be previously prepared for the purpose. There 
should be two sorts of fresh maiden loam : one 
in its natural state, and another of a lighter de- 
scription, or mixed with sand. Pure moor-earth 
also of two sorts; that is, more or less mixed with 
sand : which different qualities must be used as 
respectively suitable for the different kinds of 
plants to be potted. 
I It is impossible, and unnecessary, perhaps, to 
imitate the native soils of every plant admitted 
into a green-house collection. The groups only 
which chance to be geographically or locally 
classed need be noticed. For instance, all the 
j African heaths, as well as those of the same family 
I from all parts of the world, together with south 
African shrubs in general, succeed best in sandy 



214 CULTIVATION. 

moor-earth. Australian or Botany-Bay plants 
grow well in the same with a little addition of 
loam. Chinese productions affect light hazel 
loam ; as do also the natives of South America. 
As a general rule, the character of the roots indi- 
cates pretty clearly what description of soil is 
proper for them : — if they consist of very slender 
and much divided fibres, a fine vegetable porous 
soil is necessary ; but if the roots are simple, 
strong, and widely spread, a more tenacious 
one is requisite. 

Succulent plants, as Cactus, &c. require an 
open porous soil, composed of light loam, and old 
mortar rubbish in equal parts, mixed. Orange, 
lemons, &c. thrive best in fresh loam, enriched 
by old stable, cow-house, or sheep-cot dung, 
well comminuted and incorporated. Green-house 
bulbs, as Agapanthus, do well in light loam. 

Propagation by cuttings is performed much 
in the same way as has been described for stove 
plants. There are, however, a few peculiar 
usages which may just be stated. As it is of 
importance to begin early in the season, the 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 215 

business may commence soon as proper cuttings 
can be obtained. Such plants as are stationary 
in growth, but desirable to be propagated, are 
sometimes placed in a hot-house or frame to 
force the production of young shoots ; for unless 
young wood of proper age is procured, there is 
much less chance of success. The greater num- 
ber of plants in such collections are commonly 
propagated from the spring shoots ; and many of 
them, as geraniums, are propagated by any part 
of their branches or roots. 

The mode of striking heaths from cuttings is. 
rather peculiar, and therefore deserves particular 
notice. The pots should be well drained and 
filled with sandy moor-earth to within an inch 
of the rim. This should be pressed pretty tight, 
so as not to sink afterwards ; and covered nearly 
to the top of the rim with pure white sand, also 
pressed tight. The pot should then receive a 
good soaking of water, to prepare it for the 
reception of the cuttings. 

The cuttings should be selected from moderate- 
sized shoots of the same year's growth. About 



216 CULTIVATION 

one inch in length of the tender top is enough ; 
the leaves are cut, not stripped, from the bottom 
part more than half way up, taking* care not to 
wound the epidermis ; and the base is cut 
smoothly and transversely off, as the nib of a pen 
is cut upon the thumb-nail. When the quantity 
sufficient for one pot is prepared, let them be im- 
mediately inserted by the dibber, and watered, 
to settle the sand closely round them ; after stand- 
ing till the surface is somewhat dry, the striking- 
glass must be put on and pressed tightly down 
to exclude the air. 

A bed of saw-dust should be formed in some 
convenient spot in which to plunge the pots ; and 
if within a frame, so much the better. They 
should be kept shaded from the mid-day sun ; 
and if the mould in the pots gets at any time too 
dry, water may be given, so as not to wet the 
tops of the cuttings : the glasses should be kept 
dry by wiping them as often as is necessary. 

The month of June is the best season for strik- 
ing heaths, as by this time the young shoots are 
in good order. Cuttings that were put in early in 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 2l7 

the season, may, by this time too, be fit for pot- 
ting; and such of these as are not advanced 
enough, may be brought and placed along with 
the new pots of cuttings, in order that they may 
all share the same treatment and superintend- 
ence. 

As the cuttings advance in growth, they must 
be gradually treated with a larger share of air, 
light, and water, till they are all ready to be 
parted and placed in the small sized thimble 
pots ; after which they should receive a little more 
nursing, till they have fairly taken possession of 
their new station, and then they go to their des- 
tined place in the collection. 

It is hardly necessary to give directions for 
potting off the cuttings after they have struck 
root. Care in separating them from each other, 
and preserving to each its own roots as entire as 
possible, is the chief affair ; and minding to seat 
them carefully, and not too low in the centre of 
the pots. 

Many of the strong-growing, spongy kinds of 
green-house plants maybe readily struck without 



218 CULTIVATION. 

glasses, as confined air is apt to rot them. And 
there are some plants, as Camellias for instance, 
which not only require no glasses, but cannot be 
safely struck till the young shoots are done grow- 
ing, nor until every leaf is perfect; because, 
during their expansion, they are extremely suc- 
culent, and easily destroyed by either moist air 
or sunshine. But as the seeds of this fine plant 
frequently ripen in this country, a store of young 
ones may be more readily obtained from them, 
either for new varieties or for stocks, than by the 
old means of layering or cuttings. 

The cultivation of orange trees has become an 
object of much interest of late, and the propaga- 
tion of them has been greatly improved. The 
best stocks for grafting on are raised from the 
seeds of lemons or citrons. Lemon seeds sowed 
in January and raised in a dung or leaf hot-bed, 
and nursed, frequently shifted, and well managed 
throughout the summer, may be grafted in the 
autumn, or, at farthest, in January following. 
When grafted, they are kept in the same, or 
placed in a new lively bed, to assist the union of 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 219 

the graft and stock, and accelerate the growth, 
which, under such management, is astonishingly 
rapid. By this means a quantity of beautiful 
young orange trees may be soon obtained. But 
a still more expeditious method than this is de- 
scribed by an intelligent writer in the Gardener's 
Magazine, vol. iii. p. 272. He states, from actual 
practice, that cuttings of the Madras citron, put 
into pots in January, will strike and be fit to 
receive a graft in the following April ; and if a 
graft be chosen which shows flower-buds, these 
will be fully blown in six months from the time 
of putting in the cutting ! One thing respecting 
the cuttings, noticed by this same writer, which 
has often before been regarded by former culti- 
vators,— is, to put the bottoms or lower end of 
the cuttings in contact with the sides of the pot, 
or down so as to bear on the shards in the bottom 
of it. This position, it seems, hastens the pro- 
duction of roots, there being additional excitement 
from the extra heat retained by the solid sub- 
stances of the pot and shards. 

From these facts, it appears that the citrus 



220 CULTIVATION. 

family is a very manageable tribe ; and whether 
the various sorts of it be regarded as fruit, or 
only as ornamental plants, they are, though no 
novelty, well worthy of every care and expense 
bestowed upon them. An orangery, properly 
designed and conducted, is in all seasons an in- 
teresting spectacle, and fully deserves a division 
in every range of horticultural buildings. 

Green-house bulbs and other plants which do 
not produce stems are increased by parting the 
roots. 

Having noticed the different methods of pro- 
pagation, I shall now briefly state the general 
management of such collections. 

In respect of the building, it should be suf- 
ficiently large for the collection intended to be 
kept in it; or rather the collection should be 
limited to the size of the house. The whole may 
be injured by an endeavour to keep a great num- 
ber. The exterior of the building may be orna- 
mental ; should stand dry, and rather elevated ; 
capable of admitting the greatest share of air and 
lights and the means of heating it so complete, 



THE GREEN'-HOUSE. 221 

that no degree of cold should ever jeopardize the 
safety or health of the plants. These particulars 
are essentially necessary for the well-being of 
gTeen-house plants, kept, as they always are, in 
pots, and ranged on a graduated stage oF shelves 
sloping from the back to the front ; or, if the 
house be glazed all round, on a stage sloping 
both ways from the centre. Or, instead of a 
stage of shelves, a platform three feet from the 
floor occupies the middle of the house, on which 
the plants are placed according to their height, 
each being easily seen from the path w^hich sur- 
rounds the whole. Between the path and the 
outside walls, grated shelves are placed, usually 
over the flues, to serve as benches on which to 
set the smallest plants, or pots of forced flowers. 
Except orange trees, or very tall plants, none 
are placed on the floor ; it is an advantage to the 
plants to be near the glass, so as they are not 
too much above the eye of the spectator. 

The flre-place is usually in a shed behind the 
house, the shed being a useful appendage for 
many purposes connected with the management 



222 CULTIVATION. 

of the plants. The general temperature should 
never be lower than 40°, nor higher than 60°, 
while the plants are in the house. Dry, mild, 
fresh air should be admitted at all times, if not 
below the minimum above-mentioned. Fire 
should never be used but to repel frost, or to dry 
the house and plants, when a current of air 
can be at the same time admitted. Watering, 
clearing from dead leaves and insects, stopping 
over-luxuriant shoots, and perfect cleanliness, is 
all the attention required in the green-house 
during the winter months. 

As the spring advances, a greater share of 
fresh air is daily given from morning till night ; 
and, in very mild calm weather, the sliding sashes 
in front may be kept open on nights as wells as 
days, especially towards the end of April and 
beginning of May, to prepare the plants for being 
taken out of the house altogether. The variable- 
ness of our seasons prevents naming any particular 
time or day when this business should be done. 
The old rule among British gardeners is when the 
com,mon mulherry puts forth its leaves. This is an 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 223 

excellent because a perfectly safe indication of the 
progi'ess of the season. Previous to this time, 
therefore, every preparation should be made for 
this necessary work : the different descriptions of 
soil and compost, pots, prop»sticks, &c. should 
all be in readiness ; as well as the place where 
the plants are to stand for the summer. 

It is material that the shifting", which is a 
scene of disorder, should be got speedily out of 
hand. The usual practice is to shift the plants 
as they are taken out of the house, and when 
done, watered, pruned, and tied up, are carried 
to their summer station. That station should be 
a sheltered, rather than a shady spot ; an east or 
north aspect is most suitable ; and if where they 
can be seen, or be ornamental, the better. When 
the house is cleared of the plants, it should receive 
a thorough cleaning ; the grape vines, if there 
be any trained to the rafters, dressed and tied 
up ; and the vacant shelves again furnished with 
hot- house plants, tender annual and other showy 
flowers, raised and now ready for the purpose. 

While the plants are in their summer station, 



224 CULTIVATION. 

they only require the ordinary care of frequent 
watering", picking, and keeping in due position 
against wind. They should be set on reversed 
pans, tiles, or on some compact level surface, 
formed of lime and coal ashes, to prevent earth- 
worms entering the pots. And if, as is often 
the case, they are set on sand, gravel, or on the 
common soil, the roots speedily find their way 
through the bottom, and consequently require 
to be frequently moved, to prevent the roots 
establishing themselves in the ground, which, if 
once allowed to do, and afterwards rudely torn 
from their hold, checks and deranges the growth 
very much. 

The next affair of importance is the getting* 
the collection replaced in the house before the 
frosts and inclement weather of autumn set in. 
There is no circumstance in nature which seems 
to give notice of the decline* as we have of the 
advance, of summer, save the general pause in 
vegetation; which, however, has nothing to do 
with the commencement of frost. I have known 
great damage done to green-house plants by a 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 225 

sharp frost on the 5th of September, though it is 
seldom dreaded before the middle of October. 
Yet, as the plants can be treated with full air 
in a well-constructed house, they had better be 
placed under its protection too soon than too late : 
the 10 th of September will therefore be a very 
safe date on or about which to house the plants. 

The plants will require but Httle preparation 
for this removal ; ridding them of faded flowers, 
dead leaves, irregular growths, moss or weeds, is 
all that is requisite. If they have been set where 
it is probable the roots have got through the pots, 
they should all be moved, and the vagrant roots 
cut off about a week or ten days before being 
carried to the house. 

There is no particular rule for arranging or 
placing the plants on the stage. Sometimes they 
are grouped in families, but more frequently 
mixed indiscriminately, according to their height, 
a little intricacy being given to the bank of 
foliage, by placing conspicuous individuals here 
and there above the rest. 

¥/hen the plants are all thus arranged for the 

Q 



226 CULTIVATION. 

winter, besides the ordinary and daily care in 
giving" air and water, it is time to consider what 
other plants should be introduced to flower, or be 
nursed in the green-house. These need not be 
named ; but about the middle of October the 
tirst division of Cape bulbs should be planted, 
leaving the second to be planted in November. 
These bulbs consist of Ixias, Antholizes, &c. &e., 
which, though small, are exceedingly beautiful 
flowers. This tribe of plants succeed best in 
sandy moor-earth ; and, after flowering, are 
treated exactly like other bulbs. 

Common bulbs, and many other flowers, receive 
a share of the fostering proteciion of the green- 
house ; and as the chief pleasure derivable from 
such a building is during the winter months, 
every eiFort should be made to have in it a pro- 
fuse show of flowers. 



227 



OF THE CONSERVATORY. 



The elig'ibility of a conservatory for the cul- 
tivation and preservation of fine exotic plants 
has already been noticed ; there only remains to 
be mentioned in this place some few particulars 
regarding their construction, planting, &c. 

A conservatory should always be placed in 
the pleasure-ground, in that part called the flower- 
garden. It should be near the mansion-house ; 
and if this has any decided architectural charac- 
ter, the conservatory should partake of it. Whe- 
ther Grecian, Gothic, or otiier style, the two 
buildings should harmonize as miic'ii as pos- 
sible ; and the conservatory, though subordinate* 
may be a highly ornamental appendage to the 
mansion. 

If one of a large size is intended to be built, 
it should bespan a leading walk. The approach 

Q 2 



228 CULTIVATION. 

to it should lead through a shrubbery of the most 
elegant hardy plants carried up to the entrance 
at one end, and continued in the same manner 
beyond the entrance at the other ; the plants 
within the house being disposed on either hand 
in the same way. The advantage of this dispo- 
sition of the plants without and within the house, 
is to give the idea of an extensive vista or cres- 
cent of rare vegetable beauties : and, by passing 
through the midst of them, to have opportunity 
of examining every one of the collection to the 
right and left, consecutively. Such a disposition 
may not be in all cases practicable ; nor is it abso- 
lutely necessary ; but when it can, it should be 
done. Buildings, and particularly horticultural 
buildings, require to be backed, flanked, and 
otherwise accompanied by trees and verdure, so 
as they are not too much shaded. If standing 
on a naked base, they look cheerless, and exposed, 
besides always imposing on the attention when- 
ever in sight. 

As the magnitude of living specimens is the 
main purpose of a conservatory, a select number 



THE CONSERVATORY. 229 

of the most beautiful flowering' plants should 
have the principal places ; and planted at such 
distances as not too soon to interfere with each 
other. The character of their growth should be 
also considered ; tall aspiring growers may be 
placed between those of more humble or spread- 
ing growth. In the first years of their growth, 
there will, of course, be much space unoccupied ; 
this, however, may be furnished by tall plants in 
pots, or by quick growing plants, climbers, &c., 
which may be afterwards removed or cut away 
without regret. The conservatory should also, 
at all times, be a place for the display of annual 
or seasonal beauties. 

In order that such a building may be as exten- 
sively interesting as possible, it should consist of 
three divisions. The centre for tropical, and the 
wings, as before observed, for Australian, Chi- 
nese, some American, and European plants. In 
the choice of these for a conservatory, it is not 
the rarest that should be exclusively preferred ; 
but such only as are remarkable for the splendour 
of their flowers — for the amplitude of their leaves^ 



230 CULTIVATION. 

elegance of their forms, or for the interest at- 
tached to them as emblems, or for historical 
import. The grape-vine and pine-apple are use- 
ful, but not beautiful ; therefore, they should not 
be admitted. The orange and pomegranate are 
both useful, sweet scented and beautiful, and on 
this account deserve a place. The hostile Eu- 
phorbia ramosa, which was planted as a cheval 
de frize in one place for the better defence of 
Seringapatam, and cut through, though not with 
impunity, by the van of the British army, has an 
historical value, and therefore should have a sta- 
tion. The olive of peace — the palm of glory — 
and the laurel of victory, should all have rank in 
such an assemblage: and, while gratifying to the 
eye of the beholder, they may also awaken ideas 
associated with the countries of which they are 
natives — of their uses in the arts — or of their 
importance in commerce. 

One fire-place, with branched flues or pipes, 
may, if properly planned and executed, sen'e for 
the W'hole range. A full command of heat is 
indispensable : there must be no defect in the 



THE COiNSERVATORY. 231 

means employed to keep out frost; and this 
security may be obtained without an extravagant 
waste of fuel, by only a rightly devised mode of 
the distribution of that easily conducted and dis- 
posable element, heat. 

For this power of distributing heat, we are 
indebted to the recent improvements in metallic 
enginery ; and the value of these discoveries 
will in no case be of more importance than when 
applied to the purposes of artificial horticulture. 
Buildings, whether for the preservation of orna- 
mental plants, or for forcing fruit, will henceforth 
be more economically, and consequently more 
extensively, erected than ever ; so that no person 
of fortune, however moderate, need be destitute 
of such gratifications. 

It is not within the scope or prescribed limits 
of this work to give a particular description of 
the architecture, viz. plan and elevation of a 
conservatory ; the size and style of finishing 
always depending on the taste, the pleasure, and 
purposes of the proprietor. Suffice it to say, 
that it should be sufficiently high to allow trees 



232 CULTIVATION. 

to grow to the height of thirty feet or more, and 
to be proportionally wide. The frame and roof 
should be as light as is consistent with its sta- 
bility. The means for the admission of fresh air, 
by moveable sashes and ventilators, must be par- 
ticularly attended to in the construction. The 
flues, whether for fire, steam, or hot water, 
should be conducted under the paths, so as not 
to disfigure or encumber the surface w' 
building ; the paths being formed of wooden or 
cast-iron gratings. The borders for the plants 
should be made to the depth of three feet on a 
dry subsoil; and composed of fresh light loam, 
leaf-mould, and moor-earth, well intermixed. 
Some of the tropical plants have thick fleshy 
fibres, and seem to delight in a loose porous 
soil ; though the palms require rather a tenacious 
loam. These, and any other plant requiring a 
peculiar kind of soil, may have it applied to 
their roots when planted. The colum.ns in the 
interior of a conservatory are fine stations for 
climbers ; such as passion-flowers, and the like. 
All plants that are shrubby, and which flower 



THE CONSERVATORY. 233 

readily in pots, as Heaths, Proteas, &c. need not 
be chosen for standards in the conservatory, but 
admitted as temporary residents only. In short, 
while it is a repository appropriated to a selection 
of the most interestingly ornamental plants, it is 
also at all times a receptacle for every kind or 
description worthy of cultivation. 

There are many beautiful aquatics, and some 
natives of warm countries. For the pro- 
per culture of these, an ornamental vase, or basin, 
four feet or more in diameter, should have a cen- 
tral place. This, half filled with fine rich loam, 
serves instead of their native mud ; and when 
the roots are put into it, the vase is nearly filled 
with water, which is kept fresh by occasional 
supplies. The foliage rises to the surface of the 
water, and either floats thereon as Nymphea, or 
rises into the air as some of the Hedychiums. In 
their management, there is one thing should be 
attended to ; that is, to imitate the rise and fall 
of their native streams. The water should be 
deepest when the plants are in the most vigorous 
growth; and when the autumnal pause takes 



234 CULTIVATION. 

place, they should be kept almost dry. This 
pause in their growth causes them, like common 
bulbs, to present their flowers earlier, and in 
more strength. 

In arranging such an assemblage of plants, 
and fitting up the interior, I know of no place 
which admits of greater display, or opportunity 
for the exercise of fine taste, than a conservatory. 
Even fancy may lend her assistance in the embel- 
lishment. If, for instance, another smaller and 
similarly shaped vase, supported on a tripod, 
were placed within and rising to a due height 
above the first, and a third still smaller in the 
second, and so on, diminishing to a point, the 
whole would be an elegant pyramidal form, of 
considerable surface, on the same spot : and, be- 
sides the aquarium base, there would be elevated 
stations of suitable soil, to receive the magnifi- 
cent Cacti, and other curious plants of pendulous 
character. For a like purpose a pyramidal frag- 
ment of granite*, or two obelisks of the same, 

* Granite would be the most durable ; but any softer stone, 
or even composition, would be more suitable. 



THE CONSERVATORY. 235 

having their surfaces hewn into cavities and 
chinks, to hold a little soil, would be, in some 
degree, a natural position for the Messembry- 
anthemums, Euphorbiums, Semperviviums, &c. 

Many other devices, besides the very fragile 
one of coloured glass, will occur to refined taste, 
to design receptacles, stations, props, &c. for 
plants, according to their natural characters, 
whether climbing, trailing, creeping, or pen- 
dulous. 

Even the seats and tables in such a place 
(which may be an agreeable apartment in some 
seasons) should be in character. 

Mirrors used to be a part of the fittings up of 
conservatories ; but their effects are too fleeting 
for the rational mind. The old immense con- 
servatory at Muswell Hill, near Hornsey, built 
by a scientific gentleman of the name of Beau- 
clerk, was famous forty years ago for containing 
some very large specimens of Italian plants, and 
two immense looking-glasses placed in dark 
recesses at the opposite ends of the building; 
which (the frames being hidden by foliage) pro- 



236 CULTIVATION. 

duced, from the counter and multiplied reflec- 
tions, an astonishing, though transitory, effect on 
the mind of a visiter. 

As such buildings are usually executed in the 
course of the summer, the autumn falls to be the 
time for putting in plants, for which no further 
directions need be given. The subsequent 
management consists only in keeping up the 
requisite degree of temperature, and giving the 
necessary supplies of water, as circumstances 
direct. 



OP THE FORCING-PIT. 

There are but few places, where flowers are 
cultivated to any considerable extent, but have 
a forcing-pit for bringing forward early flowers 
for the embellishment of the drawing-room, 
green-house, or conservatory. It is only a hot- 
house on a small scale. Walls of brick-work, 
a fire-place, and its flue carried round on the 



THE FORCING-PIT. 237 

inside, close to the walls, embracing a pit or bed 
of tanner s bark, leaves, or well prepared stable 
dung;. It adds much to its convenience to have 
a narrow path in front, as well as at the back 
of the tan-pit within ; and which requires to be 
pretty deep, in order to allow head-room in 
placing and attending to the plants. The pots 
of plants to be forced are previously prepared 
in the autumn, and are set on or plunged in a 
surface-layer of dry saw-dust, laid on the fer- 
menting material, soon as the heat is sufficiently 
moderate. They should be as near the glass as 
their height or growth will allow ; the strongest 
light and freshest air are necessary, as well to 
give strength as colour and scent to the flowers. 
The sashes are moveable, for the purpose of 
giving air; and which is admitted, more or less, 
as the heat in the bed, or weather, allows. Fire- 
heat is only used when that of the bed has 
declined, or when a covering of straw mats, or 
common Russia mats, is insufficient to keep out 
frost. Besides being particularly suitable for 
forcing early flowers, it is also a fit place to 



238 CULTIVATION. 

raise seedlings, strike cuttings or layers, or re- 
cover sickly plants at all times of the year. 

These are the buildings which affluence and 
taste, by the aid of practical skill, has had erected 
for keeping exotic, and flowering at pleasure 
hardy plants. They yield to the proprietor much 
pleasurable amusement, and the high gratifica- 
tion of possessing in a northern clime many of 
the vegetable gems and sweets of the glowing 
and exuberant south. 



OF THE LAPIDIUM, COMMONLY 
CALLED ROCK- WORK. 

As a flower-garden is a receptacle for every 
thing that is gay and beautiful in the vegetable 
kingdom, so every kind of soil and habitat natural 
to the plants respectively, should be, as nearly 
as possible, imitated; not only as a means con- 
ducive to their free growth, but in order that 
they may be seen in their domesticated state as 



THE LAPIDIUM,, OR ROCK-WORK. 239 

they are most generally seen in nature. For 
this purpose we have lapidiums, or Alpine-plant 
borders, which are only a congregation of rugged 
stones. In the interstices of these, the plants are 
put, either on the dry summit, or in dark recesses 
under the largest blocks. And though such a 
harsh feature may be dispensed with in a simply 
beautiful flower-garden, it is absolutely necessary 
in an extensive botanical collection, where the 
object avowedly is, to get together and present 
every vegetable production found on the varied 
face of the earth ; whether among craggy rocks 
on high, or on the extended savannas of the low 
latitudes. Alpine plants, therefore, which consti- 
tute a very large and beautiful portion of our col- 
lections, are treated with a situation and exposure 
as like their native habitat as it is possible for 
art to accomplish. Many of the mosses, lichens, 
and especially the beautiful family of ferns^ 
cannot be cultivated successfully, nor indeed 
would they look well, if unaccompanied by 
fragments of stone or other marks of uncultivated 
nature. 



240 



OF THE AQUARIUM. 

As suitable places are prepared for the plants 
of the hill and dale, so also must a situation be 
found for the vegetable inhabitants of the lake or 
river. A large basin of water in a garden is 
always an useful appendage, independent of its 
utility as a station for water plants. If supplied 
by a fountain, or artesian well, it may be parti- 
cularly useful ; as always affording soft and tepid 
water for every purpose of the gardener, and 
peculiarly suitable for aquatics that are rather 
tender, and also for gold and silver fish. They 
are usually made of a circular or any other 
regular form; the sides of brick- work, with a 
hewn stone coping, and on a subsoil impervious 
to water, or made so by puddled clay. The 
back of the brick-work should also be puddled, 
to prevent leakage. 

If this feature can be introduced in a nook or 
recess of the lapidium, it will be perfectly na- 
tural, as well as suitable. 



241 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

Having made some remarks on the physical 
stracture of the plants treated of in the foregoing 
pages, it may be expected, perhaps, that some- 
what should be added on the physiology of trees. 
This is the more necessary, as it is a part of bota- 
nical knowledge which is still very obscure : for, 
though many eminent naturalists have employed 
their talents in the study and illustration of vege- 
table phenomena, and though much of the hid- 
den processes has been brought to light, still the 
opinions of the learned are conflicting ; the sci- 
ence is mystified by hypothetical schemes of vege- 
table life and economy, which can neither be 
proved nor clearly understood. Every lover of 
the science, however, is indebted to those inde- 
fatigable individuals, who, by constant observa- 
tion, dissection, and close examination of the 
various parts of vegetable conformation, have so 
clearly shown the effects, if not the causes, of 
vegetable life. 

R 



242 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

It would be right, perhaps, to preface the 
following" observations by giving a view of all the 
different opinions promulgated by botanical phy- 
siologists, from Grew down to Poiteau : but as 
this would embrace a great bulk of obsolete 
matter, it is as well omitted. I shall therefore 
proceed to describe, as plainly as I can, the dif- 
ferent parts and organization of a tree, availing 
myself of every discovery of science which is 
agreeable to and has been coniirmed by practice, 
and of every result of practical agency which is 
sanctioned by the principles of science. 

Soon after the first appearance of the plumida^ 
or rising shoot from the seed, w^e find, on making 
a transverse section of the stem, that it consists of 
a central pith enclosed in a cylinder of fibrous 
matter, perpendicularly arranged, this having on 
its exterior a thin separate film of bark ; the 
whole being saturated with sap peculiar to the 
plant. 

Of the pith. — The pith, or medulla, is so called, 
because it resembles the marrow of a bone. It 
is only a temporary part of the stem ; compara- 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 243 

lively large in young shoots, but gradually be- 
coming less, and in very old trees hardly percep- 
tible. It appears in the crowns of the roots as 
well as in the stem, and extends through the 
branches into every the minutest twig. As an 
organ, its use is not apparent, as it is the first 
to decay ; and stems and even young shoots live 
very well and long after being deprived of it. It 
most probably only acts as a support to the 
infant stem, and as a reservoir of moisture to 
sustain it against drought. 

Of the Jibrous cylinder,— This principal organ 
of the stem surrounds the pith, and is composed 
of a closely united body of ligneous fibres (em- 
bedded in cellular membrane, the cellules of 
which are arranged horizontally), forming, of and 
among each other, various sized tubes and in- 
terstices, perpendicularly arranged, and extending 
from the collet or bottom of the shoot to its utmost 
height ; and from the collet downwards over 
every root. At the end of the summer's growth 
it forms a cone, embracing the pith already de- 
scribed. During its growth it is called cambium ; 

R 2 



244 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

but when arrived at its full size, which it does 
in about seven months, it receives the name 
of white wood, or alburnum. It is the origin of 
the perfect wood, for ever after occupies the 
centre of the stem, and retaining its first form, 
position, and dimensions unaltered. The lig- 
neous tissue of which it is composed longitudi- 
nally, is crossed by rays^ of the same substance, 
which converge from the bark to the pith. The 
cambium is the seat of the vitality of the plant; it 
contains the rudiments of both roots and shoots, 
as well as that specific energy which, under 
the excitement of surrounding elements, produces 
all the future expansion of the vegetable being. 



* Medullary rays is an old term amongst physiologists ; 
but the term and the appearance of the rays on a transverse 
section have led into error; they have been conceived to 
be only simple lines, and, as such, have been supposed to be 
the umbilical tracks or rudiments of buds. But this idea 
cannot be admitted as probable ; because medullary rays 
exist in the internodal parts of stems where no buds ever 
appear; and, moreover, these rays are not simple lines, but 
vertical partitions of the grain of wood, extending from the 
bottom to the lop of the stem^ dividing the circumference 
into triangular segments. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 245 

Of the hark, — The bark is a distinct member, 
thrown off from the cambium as an excremental 
cloak or covering, over the whole surface of the 
plant, root as well as stem. In the first year it 
is a thin transparent film, called the cuticle, 
which for ever afterwards remains on the exterior. 
If permanent, the bark is increased in thickness 
every following year by a layer discharged from 
the cambium to its interior surface ; the outer 
layers are called the outer bark, and the inner 
layers are called the liber. The age of a tree 
may be accurately ascertained by counting the 
number of layers of which the bark is composed ; 
its laminated structure is very conspicuous in 
the common lime, and many other trees ; and is 
attached to the stem by the medullary rays of 
the wood, by the buds, shoots, and sometimes by 
radicles which force their way through it. 

These three parts compose the seedling stem. 
They previously existed in the seed, and are 
developed by elongation and expansion ; no ad- 
ditional membrane being added either at top or 
bottom. The leaves are seated on the bark, to 



246 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

which they are only temporarily attached ; they 
also having pre-existence before development. 
Indeed, it is most material to remark, in this 
place, the important fact, that every part of a 
plant displayed in the course of time previously 
exists in embryo ; vegetable life being only the 
expansion of incipient organization which is gra- 
dually excited into form and amplitude by the 
stimuli of heat, air, and water. 

The above description of a shoot from a seed, 
is applicable to every shoot afterwards produced 
from a bud. 

If we examine a transverse section of a two- 
year old seedHng, we shall find that the pith 
maintains its place, though somewhat reduced in 
diameter : that the cambium of last year has now 
become perfect wood, but remaining of the same 
size and figure it had at the end of the first sum- 
mer; that a new circle of alburnum has been 
formed on the outside, involving the first ; and 
that this is defended by two films of bark, the 
inner one having been added at the same time 
with the new alburnum. This is the process that 



PHYSIOLOGY OP TREES. 247 

takes place in every succeeding year during the 
life of the tree ; the central axis or cylinder of 
wood becoming annually enlarged in diameter by 
the addition of a ring of alburnum, the whole 
serving as a support to sustain and elevate the 
branched head of the plant. 

Respecting these annual accretions of albur- 
num*, a very important question forces itself 
upon our notice, viz. Whence do these additions 
originate ? They have been already described in 
both their conditions as cambium and alburnum; 
but their origin has not been adverted to. In- 
deed, of all the processes of vegetation, none is so 
obscure as this. Its rise and progress into being 



*The annual rings of wood are very visible on a cross 
section of the trunk. The number indicates the age of the 
tree. In some kinds of trees, as the beech, for instance, the 
alburnum, or sap-wood (as the timber-dealers call it)_, is per- 
fect in the second year ; but the alburnum of oak is not 
perfect till the sixth or seventh year. This is very obvious 
on view of a section; six or seven of the outer layers will be 
sap or white wood, and all the interior layers towards the pith 
will be mature, as the colour shows. This fact also shows 
that the new layer of oak formed this year (1829) will not be 
perfect hearty timber till the year 1835. 



248 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

are hidden from daily inspection. Examination, 
by frequent incisions through the bark, give but 
an imperfect idea of how and when the fibrous 
organization of the cambium first appears, and 
whence it is derived. This is a point on which 
there is at this time much diversity of opinion ; 
and when the difficulties of having ocular proof 
of the phenomenon are considered, there is no 
wonder that physiologists differ so much from 
each other respecting this occult part of the 
science. 

Some of the most eminent writers on the sub- 
ject imagine that the sap is changed, chiefly by 
the elaborating povvers of the leaves, from a crude, 
watery state, to what they call mature or perfect 
sap, and this is conceived to possess a property 
which is deemed, per se, organisable that is,, 
when sufficiently abundant and mature, it is 
transformable into all the membranes, various 
organs, and components of the plant. One dis- 
tinguished botanist believes the new accretion to 
be only a dilatation of the alburnum, while others 
maintain, that the ligneous matter of the new 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 249 

layer is formed of the radicles which descend 
from the superior buds between the wood and the 
bark, which uniting with the converging rays in 
their passag-e down, compose the new layer. 
Differing from all these, another idea has been 
entertained, which supposes the living principle 
to be a distinct organ of itself, always situated 
between the wood and the bark, and annually 
divisible into layers of bark and wood for ever. 

Now, as one or other of these opinions are held 
by many men of the first authority and respecta- 
bility, as well in science as practice, it is worth 
while to examine these opinions, in order to show 
how far they are consistent or inconsistent with 
the laws of nature, or agreeable to practical facts 
and observations. 

With respect to the doctrine that all the accre- 
tions of a plant are formed out of the matured 
juice, it will be necessary to consider first the 
nature of the sap itself. 

The sap of vegetables has been very justly 
compared to the blood of animals. It is not an 
organ, but a constituent only, which pervades, 



250 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

distends, connects, and invigorates the whole 
system. It is increased by supplies imbibed by 
syphon-acting tubes from the earth, and also by 
absorption of moisture from the air. It is found 
of many different qualities in different plants ; 
each kind of plant possessing peculiar powers 
and structure for elaborating, concocting, and 
assimilating the qualities of the earth and air, so 
as to form specific combinations proper to itself. 
Thus the Pi mis genus possesses an organisation 
and a fountain for the production of resin ; Mi- 
mosa^ gum ; RicinuSy oil ; &c. Other plants ela- 
borate sugar, starch, &c. ; and though these 
specific qualities are often more concentrated in 
one part than in others, yet the whole plant par- 
takes of them in a greater or lesser degree. 

Sap is of various consistency ; in some plants 
it is like pure water, without colour, scent, or 
taste. It is, on the contrary, in some coniferous 
plants so inspissated, and (whether left in a 
cavity of the timber, or withdrawn by tapping) 
becomes so concreted that it resists edge-tools, 
and so indurated as to last for ages, unless de- 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 251 

composed by the action of heat or water. But 
in no state is it ever found by analysation to con- 
tain anything like fibrous matter from which 
organs might be formed; it ever remaining a 
homogeneous mass, and quite destitute of any 
special structure to indicate conformation. Chap- 
tal, indeed, is said to have detected fibrous 
matter in the sap of some trees ; but this solitary 
instance is not corroborated by any subsequent 
experimentalist or writer on the subject. 

While occupying its natural station in the 
plant, we see it at different times more or less 
fluid. In the spring it becomes exceedingly 
liquefied, and discharged from wounds as limpid 
as rock-water; though, if long exposed to the air, 
it becomes inspissated into gum on stone-fruit 
trees ; or corrupt like sanies oozing from wounds 
on the elm. Its motion in the spring and be- 
ginning of summer is rapid ; but is arrested and 
congealed by the cold of autumn; and during 
winter it assumes a clammy consistence, and 
then only acts like a cement to the fibrous orga- 
nisation of the new and old wood and bark. 



252 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

It is never so thickened in the roots, during win- 
ter, as it is in the stem and branches ; the 
warmth of the earth keeping it always in a state 
of fluidity. 

If then the sap of trees be only as it is here 
described, how can it possibly have the alleged 
property of " organisation How can ligneous 
fibres, tubes, cells, flowers, and fruit, be formed 
out of a mass of homogeneous jelly, gum, or 
resin? The perfect sap is said to be prepared by 
the leaves, and, when elaborated, is returned again 
into the interior of the plant, to form those new 
accretions which take place during the summer. 
If it were said that its elaboration is accom- 
plished by the leaves perspiring away its aqueous 
portion, and thereby leaving a more substantial 
juice to be disposed as cement, to give solidity 
to the wood, it would be a feasible representation, 
and moreover, a representation that could not 
be disproved. But when it is maintained, that 
this elaborated juice is transformable into all the 
other essentials of the plant, practical knowledge 
hesitates to give its consent; because there are 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 253 

many circumstances which mihtate against such 
doctrine. 

It is always considered, in practice, that ma- 
tured sap is one thing, and organisation is 
another. If they be the same thing, they will 
invariably produce the same effects in all similar 
cases ; at least we should expect so. But that 
this is not the fact, the following instances will 
show : — 

Choose, from a v/ell-ripened healthy shoot of 
a grape-vine, an internode piece, that is, a piece 
deprived of its nodes or joints. After ascertain- 
ing that it is perfectly sound wood, and of course 
fully charged with matured sap, let it be planted 
as a cutting in the most favourable situation, 
affording it every assistance from artificial heat, 
and every other auxiliary means that practical 
experience can devise. Will this repository of 
perfect sap ever produce a shoot? No, never; 
temporary rootlets may be produced ; and though 
the cambium may be put in motion, and even 
show its callosities at each end, nothing hke a 
shoot will ever come forth. Again, tubers are 



254 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

said to be the depositories of the matured sap 
sent down by the foliage. A potatoe, for in- 
stance, contains a decided store of this organi- 
sable matter : but divest this tuber of its gems or 
eyes, it instantly becomes a caput mortuwn ; this 
concentrated body of organisable hfe becomes 
inert, and quickly submits to putrefaction. 

One of the principal arguments in support of 
this strange doctrine is drawn from the circum- 
stance, that a fruit tree, in high vigour, is less 
fruitful than one of a moderate or even weakly 
growth ; and if this vigorous tree receive a check, 
it almost immediately becomes prolific. This, it 
is said, is occasioned by the sap, in consequence 
of its stagnation, becoming eminently mature, 
and expended in the formation of flowers and 
fruit, instead of being rapidly wasted in the 
production of wood. But the fact is, flow^ers 
and fruit are not so expeditiously formed as this 
supposition would lead us to believe ; they have 
existence in the shoot long prior to their appear- 
ance on its exterior. The rapid growth of a 
shoot is not by an evolution of its central parts, 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 255 

but a simple elongation of those components 
which existed and composed it even in the bud. 
Its parts are magnified, not multiphed. When 
the growth receives a check, those parts of the 
system which lie more immediately in the influ- 
ential and central current of the sap rising from 
the roots, will receive a stronger impulse than 
those on the exterior, which are further removed 
from it ; consequently, the flowers which are 
generally, though not universally, seated on the 
pith, receive the whole impetus of the subdued 
vigour, and hence burst forth into view. 

Many other examples might be brought to 
prove that the organi sable property of the sap 
is not sound philosophy. The very arguments 
brought forward in support of it are at least 
ill chosen. It has been compared to the agency 
of the blood of animals repairing a wound, or 
filling up a separated part of a muscle of a living 
body ; and to the formation of the chicken from 
the homogeneous fluids of an egg ! But the 
cases are quite dissimilar : In the first, the blood 
only assists by enlargement and elongation of the 



256 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

vessels and organs already there : and as to the 
second, it is well known, that the vital speck or 
rudiment of the chick is formed in, and proceeds 
from the oviary of the hen, and (Uke the spawn 
of fishes and reptiles) only requires the vivifying- 
influence of the male to excite it into life and 
perfect form during incubation. 

But there are other difficulties attending this 
supposed generative property of the sap. As 
accretions take place over the whole plant, and 
as the leaves are the supposed laboratories of 
this organisable matter, means must be invented 
for the conveyance of it from them to the lower 
parts and roots of the plant. For this purpose 
descending vessels are necessary, i. e. ducts 
which allow the prepared sap to sink somehow 
or other into the inferior parts of the system. 
Hence the trunk of a tree must be conceived to 
consist of a most complicated tissue of vessels, to 
permit the counter currents of the simple and 
matured sap. Indeed, so occult are the pro- 
cesses, that it cannot be explained without 
recourse being had to almost all the powers of 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 257 

nature, viz. gravitation, attraction, positive and 
negative electricity, &c. to make out a feasible 
hypothesis. The matured sap is made to descend 
from the topmost spray of the Lombardy poplar, 
and to descend vp the pendant branches of the 
weeping ash or willow ! But the practical eye 
is not distracted by such anomalies. By a very 
slight examination, we find the sap distributed, 
at all times when in motion, over the whole sur- 
face of the last yearns alburnum, on the highest 
shoot as on the lowest part of the stem : and 
when not in motion, it is equally apparent rest- 
ing, in an inspissated state, in the tubes and 
cells of the wood, and between the wood and 
bark. This is an undeniable fact ; and if it be, 
why should physiologists puzzle themselves by 
inventing a peculiar system of vessels, for the 
purpose of accounting for the fancied motions of 
the sap, by conveying it unnecessarily from one 
place to another? Can a topmost shoot or any 
other part of a healthy plant be found at any 
time divested of it ? Can the keenest eye, as- 
sisted by the most powerful microscope, discover 

s 



258 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

any difference in the structure of the stems of 
the Helianthus annua and the Helianthus tube- 
rosus? In the latter, descending vessels must, 
as it is said, exist; but in the former they must 
be wanting. The petioles of all biennial plants 
must be furnished with descending ducts tx) carry 
the prepared sap to the roots or bulbs, in the Jirst 
year, but must be destitute of such organs in 
the second I Nay more ; if, as has been already 
observed, a single leaf of a carrot or turnip, for 
instance, stands over the winter, its function will 
be different in the second than it was in the first 
season. 

The descent of the sap is, however, a very old 
idea, and has long been received as an esta- 
blished fact. The following circumstances have 
always been considered as proofs that there is a 
downward as well as an upward course : viz. a 
common holly or jasmine, budded with a varie- 
gated sort, will afterwards throw up from the roots 
variegated suckers. The attachment formed by 
inserted buds or grafts and the stock is a union 
of the cambium or vital membranes of both 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. ' 259 

the scion and stock '*. A wound through the 
bark heals by protrusions of new wood and 
bark downwards faster than by new processes 
upwards ; and, in the same case, the sap distils, 
it is said, from above more copiously than from 
the lower lip of the wound. When a branch or 
young shoot is bound by a ligature, it swells 
more above than below the band. All these cir- 
cumstances shew clearly that there is a down- 
ward motion of some component of the plant, 
otherwise the above effects could not take place. 
These effects, however obscure the cause, cannot 
be accounted for by attributing them to the 
descent of the sap. 

The next hypothesis to account for the annual 
enlargement of the stems of trees is one which 
admits the change of sap from a crude to a 
mature state, and also its ascent, descent, and 
lateral transfusion in the body of the plant ; but, 
instead of attributing the formation of the new 

* If the matured sap be impelled upwards in the spring, as 
part of it is said to be, along with that received from the roots, 
why are not grafts tainted with its organisable properties ? 

s2 



260 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

zone of cambium to the organisable property of 
sap, asserts that it is composed of a dilatation of 
the alburnum. This is a most rational suppo- 
sition ; because not only agreeable to natural 
appearances, but also accounting for the fibrous 
organisation which so soon appears in this new 
member of the stem. But, unfortunately, this 
specious conjecture is not true ; because the al- 
burnum suffers no diminution, but remains ever 
after of the same form and dimension it had at 
the end of the last year's growth ; which could 
not be the case, if any part of its exterior surface 
was sloughed off to form the new layer. 

Another idea has been entertained respecting 
the annual growth of the stem, and which ap- 
pears to be gaining ground, particularly in 
France. It admits the striking similarity of 
seeds and buds; and supposes, that as every seed 
produces roots as well as a stem, so every bud 
^produces radicles at the same instant that its 
leaves, &c. are in progress of development ; 
which radicles, entering into the then lubrified 
space between the last year's wood and the bark, 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TRIBES. 261 

and there plunging into the liquefied sap, descend 
in close array, anastomozing as they proceed with 
the medullary rays which cross their path, and 
together furnish the fibrous matter of the swell- 
ing cambium. This, it is said, shews how readily 
rootlets are produced from cuttings — how inocu- 
lated buds or grafts fix themselves to the stock ; 
that it is not the matured sap which descends' 
but the radical vessels themselves, and they it is 
that carries with them the colours and forms of 
the parents whence they have descended. It 
accounts for the appearances observed on stran- 
gulated branches, and particularly for the upper 
sides of w^ounds closing faster than the lower.. 
It also accounts for the production of shoots from 
the trunks of trees which have been long felled' 
In short, there is hardly a circumstance in the 
ordinary phenomena of vegetation ^vhich may 
not be satisfactorily explained by the application 
of this hypothesis. 

Notwithstanding the feasibility of this notion, 
however, it is liable to one or two objections, 
which fall to be noticed. It should be remem- 



262 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

bered, that a lofty tree, when it first receives the 
enlivening impulse of spring, has its bark closely 
embracing* the surface of the alburnum. The 
first signs of life are the bursting buds exter- 
nally, and the liquefaction of the sap internally. 
Soon after this, the bark is raised from the wood 
by the expansive power of the sap, now assuming 
the appearance and receiving the name of cam- 
bium, and shewing itself at the bottom of the 
lofty trunk almost as soon as it does at the top : 
we cannot conceive, therefore, how the descend- 
ing radicles can reach so far down in so short a 
time : — how they should descend the distance of 
sixty or eighty feet in a few days is incon- 
ceivable. Another question follows : how does it 
happen that the new layer of liber is formed out 
of these descending radicles so distinctly and 
separately from the body of the new alburnum, 
as well as from the last year's liber? And 
whence some of the gems which so soon after 
appear to rise from these descending radicles? 
Such phenomena may take place ; but the expla- 
nation is difficult. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 263 

We now come to the last hypothesis which 
has been propounded to account for this obscure 
process of vegetable life. It differs from all 
others, by denying that the new accretions are 
formed from the generative property of the sap, 
or that the cambium is a dilatation of the albur- 
num of the former year, or that it is supplied 
with fibrous matter entirely from the superior 
buds ; but that the vital pdnciple of the tree is a 
distinct organ always situate between the wood 
and liber, and that it is that component of the 
system which is susceptible of and receives the 
action and influence of the surrounding ele- 
ments, occupying the place and appearing in the 
character of cambium during its summer growth, 
and, when this is over, reposing as a thin body 
on the exterior surface of the new alburnum, and 
within the new liber which has been thrown off at 
the same time. While in this latter state, that is, 
from the time when the growth is arrested in the 
autumn till its recommencement in the spring, 
it occupies a very inconsiderable space, appear- 
ing on the transverse section only like a very 



264 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREF.S. 

narrow compressed line. Yet, in this slender 
cylinder of vitality, it may reasonably be inferred, 
are comprised an infinite number of layers of 
incipient alburnum as well as of bark. 

In a former part of this work it has been 
stated, in describing the physical conformation of 
bulbs, that their radical plates are composed of an 
endless succession of gems, which are developed 
in the order of their seniority ; so the vital en- 
velope of a tree is annually and constantly divisi- 
ble into layers of bark and wood for ever 

This narrow shell of vitality did contain all 
the buds and roots that have been, and does con- 
tain the rudiments of all that ever will be de- 
veloped ; the gems not floating loosely in the sap, 
as has been conjectured, but borne on the vital 
membrane and there remaining inert, or de- 
veloped when circumstances are favourable. 
These gems, though imperceptible, from their 
extreme minuteness, are variously located in the 



Though trees which do not stole are liable to decay 
after a certain period, yet those that do^ or are capable of 
being perpetuated by art, may be said to continue for ever. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 265 

stem, according to the kind or peculiar structure 
of the plant; — on every part of the trunk and 
branches, as the myrtle ; and at the nodes only, 
as the grape-vine. 

These gems mostly remain dormant, though 
all of them may be prompted into action accord- 
ing to the circumstances of position or extraor- 
dinary impulses of constitutional vigour, espe- 
cially if the stem be damaged, or cut over, im- 
mediately above their station ; in which case they 
will burst through the bark, or occasionally may 
be seen issuing from the protruding cambium, 
oozing out round the last year's alburnum at the 
top. 

These facts are quite apparent to the most 
careless observer ; and shew to a certainty the 
seat of vitality, whence proceed all the incre- 
ments of the vegetable being. The only diffi- 
culty lies in conceiving how infinite gradations 
of matter can previously exist in finite space ; 
how innumerable folds of bark and wood can be 
produced from a layer scarcely perceptible during 
the winter half-year. Still it is an unquestionable 



26.6 PHYS[OLOGY OF TREES. 

fact; and though not easy to describe, may 
easily be comprehended by the assistance of the 
following figures : — 




The preceding figures are representations of 
half a transverse section of a stem, six, and six 
and a half years old. In figure A, o is the pith 5 
1 is part of the first formed cylinder of wood, or 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 267 

alburnum of the first year; 2 is that of the 
second; 3 of the third, and so on to the sixths 
a is the first epidermis or layer of bark with its 
rough exterior ; h the second ; and so on to 
which is the last or liber of the sixth year. 

Figure B is a section of the same stem cut in 
the month of June of the seventh year. The 
layers of wood and bark are shewn in the same 
order as in fig. A, with the addition of the cam- 
bium of the seventh year partly developed. Its 
outer boundary line is the liber of the seventh 
year; and the dotted space within is the cam- 
bium swelling into volume, and pressing before it 
in an outward direction all the previously formed 
layers of bark, thereby adding to the diameter 
of the stem. By this internal increase the first 
layers of bark are split into vertical fissures, as 
in Oak, Elm, &c.; divergingly stretched, as in 
Beech; or thrown off, as in the Plane, Vine, 
and Arbutus andrachne. 

The cambium, thus increasing, is gradually 
charged with its peculiar organisation of fibrous 
matter, tubes, cells, &c, containing that vital 
principle called vegetable life. It separates from 



268 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

the last year's alburnum so entirely, that its 
existence as a distinct membrane cannot be 
doubted : no disruption or dilatation, as before 
observed, takes place, except where the medullary 
rays pass from the bark into the wood. 

The liber of the seventh year is also formed in 
the summer. It is a slough, thrown off from 
the swelling cambium, but quite distinct, and is 
no more connected with the cambium at the end 
of the growing" season than the cambium is with 
the last year's wood, except only by the con- 
verging rays which seem to connect together 
the whole structure of the stem. 

The dotted space 7 (fig. B), is the increasing 
cambium, or new layer of wood, of the seventh 
year, which only occupied the line 8 during the 
previous winter, and will be confined to a 
similar line on the exterior of the dotted space 
during the next. Hence it will be observable 
that the vital principle shifts its place every year. 
The alburnum which by its agency was distended 
into complete form last year, is deserted by it at 
the beginning of this ; but whether dormant, as 
it was on the line 8, or actively swelling, as in 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 



269 



the dotted space 7, it contains the rudiments of 
all the liber, roots, buds, &c. that ever will be 
produced by the plant ; of this there needs no 
proof. 

In order to shew that the opinion founded on 
the above- represented facts is not a mere hypo- 
thesis, a few proofs may be brought forward, or 
rather recapitulated, by way of illustration. 

There can be no doubt that all the different 
parts of a vegetable, developed during its exist- 
ence, are previously contained in embryo, or state 
of incipience ; vegetable life, as before observed, 
being only an expansive power of the essential 
sap enlarging the vessels which contain it, when 
acted on at the proper season by a sufficient de- 
gree of heat ; or, as it would appear in some 
cases, when the juice by a certain maturation or 
chemical change of itself takes a kind of fermen- 
tation, and expands independently of atmospheric 
heat. Thus many plants whose vernal growth 
is soon over, recommence it during winter 
and before the increased heat of spring can affect 



270 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

them ; witness the early movements of bulbs and 
amentaceous plants. 

Trees and shrubs are individuals as far as they 
have a pith, bark, and a covering of vitality in 
common, but dividuals in so far as they are 
divisible both by nature and art: naturally by 
seeds and suckers : artificially, by cuttings, bud- 
ding", grafting, and layering. In all cases, the 
organisation and increments proceed from the 
cambium, as has been repeatedly stated ; and 
as vegetable life is no other than the develop- 
ment of pre-existing organisation, we must 
allow that there must be some connecting mem- 
branes which unite the parts with the whole. 
The equivocal generation of plants, or even parts 
of plants, is not more absurd than is the equi- 
vocal generation of animals, 

I am quite aware that questioning the validity 
of this old idea, viz. the descent of the sap, will 
meet the opposition of many very experienced 
men, both scientific and practical : even the wood- 
man will remonstrate, and triumphantly ask why 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 271 

the stem and branches of a tree contain less sap 
in the winter than in summer? The question 
deserves an answer, and may be replied to 
thus : — The supply of crude sap from the roots 
is certainly more abundant in the vegetating 
seasons than in winter ; and this, added to the 
stock of sap which was arrested by the cold, 
but now, by the spring warmth, highly liquefied, 
causes a most copious flow. During summer 
and autumn, however, the aqueous part of this 
flow is expended and transpired away, leaving 
the grosser parts lodged in the vascular mem- 
bers of the stem and branches, in the interior, 
and sometimes on the exterior of the buds for 
their preservation. The woodman is therefore 
perfectly right in thinking that the sap is more 
active in the stem and branches in summer, and 
more fluid and active in the roots than in the 
stem in winter ; but he is wrong in concluding 
that the activity in the latter case is owing to its 
having subsided from the top to the bottom of 
the tree. The fluidity of the sap in the roots 



272 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

has already been adverted to, page 252, and no 
one who is aware that the vessels of the roots are 
at all times replete with sap can possibly imagine 
that they have capacity for such a surcharge. 

In recurring again to the most obscure part of 
the above sketch of vegetable life and constitu- 
tional development, a few additional observations 
may conclude this section of the book. 

The arrangement of the structure has been 
set forth under the proper names of pith, wood, 
and bark. These are the three principal con- 
stituents of the stem or trunk ; and which are all 
in a state of gradual change, by annual accretion 
or transformation ; and, while undergoing a 
change, the processes receive temporary dis- 
tinctions for the better describing the parts. 
Thus the last year's layer of bark is called the 
liber ; and the last year's ring of wood is called 
alburnum: but these, during their growth, are 
both designated cambium. This cambium is 
the seat of life ; is composed of an indefinite 
number of layers of bark and wood ; one of each 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 273 

being thrown off and developed in each year ; 
the first to increase the thickness of the bark, 
the second to increase the body of wood. Strictly 
speaking, both these are only excrementitious 
parts of the plant ; the first as a general pro- 
tection or covering, the second as a temporary 
support. In watching the annual growth of a 
tree, it is only these increments of the stem which 
are detectable by the eye, and these but imper- 
fectly till they are displayed into form and sub- 
stance. The incipient cambium occupies in win- 
ter so inconsiderable a space on the exterior of the 
last year's alburnum, that its wonderful compli- 
cation of parts cannot be distinguished ; and 
when examined, after it has swelled to the thick- 
ness of one-twelfth of an inch, its fibrous or mem- 
branous components are so colourless and trans- 
parent, that neither their forms nor positions can 
be ascertained. It is this indistinctness of the 
organs in this stage of their existence which led 
to the opinion, that the perfect sap generated 
the organs — a circumstance which, were it true,, 
I believe, has no parallel in Nature. 

T 



274 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

To shew that the cambium is a separate and 
distinct organ from the alburnum of last year 
(except by the insulated attachments before de- 
scribed), we may only instance how completely 
the former separates from the latter. This is 
strikingly visible to the bark-peeler, or on the 
accidental disbarking of a standing tree. In 
both cases the cambium comes off with the bark, 
leaving the surface of the wood completely de- 
nuded, except small portions which remain in 
the indentations and chinks of the latter. In the 
case of a standing tree being disbarked, the 
cambium gradually closes over the wound, in 
the way previously described ; but if the naked 
surface of the wood remains long exposed, and 
becomes hardened by the air, though many new 
layers of wood will be formed over it^ no intimate 
union ever takes place between the layer that was 
exposed and the new ; the scar ever remaining a 
flaw in the timber : shewing that, notwithstand- 
ing the cambium parts easily from the wood 
when young, it forms a close union with it 
while growing to perfection. The junction 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TxHEES. 275 

between the last and the present year's layers 
is, however, always very distinguishable in the 
timber; the inner side of every year's layer 
being' fuller of large tubes, and consequently 
less solid than the outer side, which is formed 
in the autumn, when the vigour of the growth 
is subdued. 

It is worthy of remark, too, that where the 
alburnum has been stripped of its bark, if small 
portions of the cambium have been left in the 
fissures of its surface, ^these will also swell and 
readily unite with the collapsing cambium in its 
way over the wound. 

It is unnecessary to describe the other parts 
of plants, viz. the root, leaves, stipulas, flowers, 
and fruit, further than has been already done in 
the directions given for the cultivation of the 
plants especially treated of in the foregoing pages. 
All these parts and their functions are pretty well 
understood ; and have been far better described 
by others than by any additional remark that 
can be made here. Neither is it necessary that 



276 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

allusion be made to the chemical agency attri- 
buted to plants ; their susceptibility of electric 
action ; the different vessels discovered in the 
wood and bark ; their forms, uses in the system, 
&c. &c. ; all which discoveries being far beyond 
the reach of practical penetration, and proveable 
only by the exercise of chemical and physical 
philosophy, need neither be scrutinized nor re- 
iterated here. 

Those living authors, whose opinions I have 
so freely canvassed, and with whose ideas of 
vegetable life and processes I have been com- 
pelled to differ, I can only take the liberty of 
referring to the arguments by which I have 
endeavoured to substantiate my allegations, for 
justification in dissenting from such high autho- 
rities. But to their candid consideration I re- 
spectfully submit my statements, trusting that 
what T have advanced on the subject may at 
least lead to clearer views of physiology, and be 
accepted as a mite thrown to the general stock 
of botanical knowledge. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 277 

And while I acknowledge having availed my- 
self of much valuable information contained in 
previous publications, I must not omit returning 
my best thanks to Messrs. Sweet, Groom, and 
other floricultural friends, who obligingly an- 
swered every question proposed to them by me 
on the general subject. And while discharging 
these debts of ordinary civility, I should be doing 
injustice to my own feelings, did I neglect to 
acknowledge my entire satisfaction in finding 
that I stand not alone in opinion relative to the 
physical constitution of bulbs ; but am preceded 
by a Lady whose penetration is only equalled 
by the spirit she has evinced in freeing herself 
from the trammels of obsolete science, and given 
a lesson even to her preceptors. I mean Miss 
Maria. Elizabeth Jackson, of Somerset Hall, 
Staffordshire, the elegant authoress of " The 
Florist's Manual," and other elementary works 
on Botany. I have only seen her Florist s Ma- 
nual ; but the few remarks contained in this, I 
must say, transcend all that has been previously 



278 PHYSIOLOGY OF TREES. 

published on the subject. Thus it is frequently 
seen, that in the galaxy of science it is not the 
stars of the first magnitude which emit the 
brightest light, their broader beams being often 
outshone by the scintillations of the minor glories 
of the sky. 



J. M. 



No, 1— A LIST OF BORDER FLOWERS, 



ESTIMABLE FOR THEIR EARLY FLOWERING^ BEAUTY, 
OR FINE SCENT* 



BULBS AND TUBERS. 

Galanthus. Snowdrop. 
Nivalis, common. 
double. 

Allium. Garlic. 
Inodorura, Carolinaj &c. 

BULBOCODIUM. BuLBOCODIUM. 

Vernura, spring flowering, &c. 

Crocus. Crocus. 
Biflorus, flavus, vernus, maesiacus, pallidiis, reflexus,. 
sulpbureus, susianus, versicolor. 

Erythronium. Erythronium. 
Americanum, Dens Canis. 

Frittellaria. Frittellary. 
Imperalis, latifolia, obliqua, Meleagris, persica, ra- 
cemosa. 

Muscari. Grape Hyacinth. 
Ametbystinus, botryoides, cemuus, moschatum, race- 
mosns, serotinus. 



280 BORDER FLOWERS. 

Iris. Rainbow, or Fleur-de-lis. 

Persica, susiani, tuberosa, biflora, lutescens, pumila, 
variegata, Germanica, pallida, versicolor, and many others. 

IxiA. IxiA. 

Bulbocodium. 

Narcissus. Narcissus. 

Albus, angustifolius, bicolor, biflorus, bulbocodium, 
elatior, compressus, incomparabilis, Italicus, Jonquilla, pa. 
pyraceus, poeticus, Pseudo-Narcissus, Tazetta, tortuosus^ 
and many others. 

Ornithogalum. Star of Bethlehem. 

Luteum, nutans, comosum, striatum, uniflorum, &c. 

Scilla. Squill. 

Amsena, bifolia, Lilio-hyacinthus, Italica, nutans, 
prsecox, sibericus. 

Helonias. Helonias. 
BuUata, asphodeloides, longifolia. 

Trillium. Trillium. 
Cernuum, erectum, grandiflorum, &c. 

TuLiPA. Tulip. 
Biflora, sylvestris, clusiana, suaviolens, 

Amyryllis. Amyryllis. 
Atamasco, Belladonna, lutea*. 

Anthericum. Anthericum. 
Liliago, Liliastrum, ramosum, scrotinum. 



* These bulbs require to be planted deep in the ground 
if not taken up in the winter. 



BULBS AND TUBERS. 



281 



Akethusa. Arethusa. 

Biilbosa. 

CoLCHicuM. Meadow-saffron. 
Byzantinum, autiimuale, variegatum. 

CONVALLAKIA. SoLOMOn's SeAL. 

Bifolia, Japonicaj latifolia, majalis, multitiora, Polygo- 
natum, racemosa, stellata, verticellata. 

Cypripedium. Lady's Supper. 

Acaule^ arietiniim, calceolus, parviflorum, pubescens, 
album. 

Leucojum. Leucojum. 
^stivum, pulchelliira. 

LiLiuM. Lily. 

Camtschatka, cordifolium, Pomponium, aurantium, 
bulbiferum, candidum, chalcedonicum, concolorj Japonicura, 
Martagon, monadelphium, Peunsylvanicum, suberbiira, 
trigrinum, canadense^, Catesbsei. 

Pancratium. Pancartium. 

lUyricum, maritimum. 

Tradscantia. Sfider-wort. 
Virginica, rosea, subaspera. 

UVULARIA. UVULARIA. 

Amplexicaule, grandiflora, perfoliata, flava, lanceolata. 

Com melt N A. Commelina. 

Communis, virginica. 

Gladiolus. Corn-flag. 

Communis, byzantinus, cardinalis, imbricatus, psitta- 
cinus, natalensis. 

Hemerocalis. Day-lily. 
Disticha, cajrulia, flava, grarainea, alba, purpurea, fulva 



282 



BORDER FLOWERS. 



Hypoxis. Hypoxis. 

Erecta. 

Pardanthus, Pardanthus. 

Chinensis. 

TiGRiDiA. Tiger-flower. 

Pavonla. 

g^** Many of the Orchideae are suitable for shady 
borders, viz. the different genera of Orphrys, Orchis, Cy- 
pripediura, Satyriura, Serapias, Neottia, Gymnadenia, 
Aceras, Herminium, Listera, Epipactis, &c. 

Dahlia. Dahlia. 
Frustranea, siiperflua. 

This is one of our most splendid autumnal flowers. 
There seems to be no end to varieties obtainable from seed ; 
and their cultivation is as easy as it is generally known. 
The seed, sown early in spring, will flower in the end of 
summer. The tubers must be taken out of the open ground 
in the autumn, and kept in a dry place out of the reach of 
frost in winter. In the early spring the tubers of the fa- 
vourite kinds are divided, and put into pots sis inches 
diameter, and kept in a house or frame till all danger from 
frost is over, when they may be turned out in the borders. 
They are readily and expeditiously propagated by taking 
the first shoots which rise from the tubers and striking 
them in a little heat. Such young plants produce the 
handsomest flowers. They flower earlier, and grow more 
dwarfish in the poorest soil; and if very large flowers are 
desired, all the inferior branchlets must be thinned out. 



CAPE BULBS. 

Under this character are ranged Ixias, Antholizas, 
Gladiolus, &c. almost all of which are delicate and diminu- 



PERENNIALS AND BIENNIALS. 



283 



tive plants. They are usually potted in light sandy soil, 
and kept in pots or frames during their flowering season. 
Some of them succeed on a warm dry border ; where, if 
planted five or six inches deep, and covered with dry litter, 
they will stand the winter ; but a safer way is to take them 
up, like other bulbs. 



No;2.— BORDER FLOWERS. 



FIBROUS-ROOTED PERENNIALS AND BIENNIALS.' 
Eranthis. Aconite. 

Hy emails. 

Helleborus. Hellebore. 
Lividus, niger, viridis. 

TusiLLAGo. Colts-foot. 
Alba, fragrans, Adonis, vernalis. 

Alyssum, Madwort. 
Calycinum, alpestre, montanum, &c. 

Arabis. Wall-cress. 
Alpine, grandiflora, nutans. 

Draba. Whitlow-grass. 
Aizoides, Androsace, hirta. 

Fumaria. Fumitary. 

Spectabilis. 

Orobus. Bitter Vetch. 
Vernus, albus, pyrenaicus. 

Potentilla. Clvquefoil. 
Napalenses, Russelliana. 



284 



BORDER FLOWERS. 



Saxifraga. Saxifrage. 
Cordifolia, crassifolia, oppositifollia, umbrosa, &c. 

Valeriana. Valerian. 
Tripteris, Phu, calcitrapa. 

Viola. Violet. 
Calcarata^odorata, and thiiiy-eight other species. 

This sweet little flower is an universal favourite. The 
odorata and its varieties are most vahied ; but they cannot 
be had in perfection unless a good deal of pains is bestowed 
on them. Slugs are very destructive to the violet, devour- 
ing the flowers as much before as after they are in bloom. 
Where the flowers are in much request, beds are made on 
purpose for them, composed of a layer of coal-ashes on the 
bottom, covered with a compost of peat-earth, loam, rotted 
cow-dung, and sand ten inches thick. On this young 
runners are planted, six inches apart, in July, carefully 
attended ; and, when the cold of autumn sets in, they are 
covered with a frame and lights, and defended from the 
frost throughout the winter. Violets should be potted in 
August for forcing, which is most successfully done in a 
mild hot-bed. The double Neapolitan is the best for 
forcing. 

Dodecatheon. American Cowslip. 
Meadia. 

Gentian A. Gentian. 
Acaulis, lutea, purpurea, cruciata, and twent}- others. 

Iberis. Candytuft, 
Saxatilis, sempervirens, ciliata, rotundifolius. 

Phlox. Lychnidea. 
Divaricata, setacea, subulata. 

PoLEMONiuM. Greek Valerian. 
Reptans, sibericum, caeruleum. 



PERENNIALS AND BIENNIALS. 285 

SOLDANELLA. SoLDANELLA. 

Alpine, best kept in pots. 

AcoNiTUM. Monkshood. 
Napellas, and sixteen others. 

Antirrhinum. Snap-dragon. 
Alpinum, majus, and varieties. 

Aquileoia. Columbine. 
Alpina, hybrida, &c. 

Asclepias. Swallow-wort. 
Vincetoxicum. 

Campanula. Bell-flower. 

Glomerata, Carpatica, persicifolia, pyramidalis^ and 
fifty-six others. The pyramidal may be kept in pots, and 
trained to be highly ornamental. 

Cheiranthus. Wall-flower. 

Fruticulosus with varieties, alpinus^ &c. 

Coreopsis. Dwarf Sun-flower. 

Verticilata, &c. 

Mathiola. Stock. 
Incana, annua, Grseca. 

To our old favourites, the ten-week and Brompton 
stocks, have been added many new varieties of Russian, 
which add to the variety rather than to the beauty of the 
tribe. 

DiCTAMNUS. FrAXINELLA. 

Albus, with several varieties. 

Erodium. Heron's-bill. 
Hymonides, &c. 

Geranium. Crane's-bill, 
Sanguineum, &c. 



286 BORDER FLOWERS. 

Geum. Avens. 

Napalensis. 

Gnaphalium. Everlasting. 
Olympicum. 

Hesperis. Rocket. 
Matronalis, double, white, and purple. 

Lupines. Lupine. 

Pollyphilla, &c. 

Lychnis, Lychnis. 
Dioica, viscaria, chalcedonica, Sec. 

CEnothera. Evening Primrose. 
Many beautiful species. 

PcEONiA. Peony. 
Albiflora, &c. many species. 

PiNGUICULA, BuTTERWORT. 

Alpina, grandiflora. 

Thalictrum. Meadow-rue. 
Aquilegifoliura, alpinum. 

Trollius. Globe-flower. 
Americanum, Europseus. 

Verbascum. Mullien. 
Cupreum, &c. 

Apocynum, Dog's-bane. 
Hypericifolium. 

Aster. Starwort, 
Alpinus, and many other species. 

Chelone. Chelone, 
Barbata, glabra, obliqua. 



PERENNIALS AND BIENNIALS. 287 

Cineraria. Cineraria. 
Alpina, canadensis, &c. 

Delphinium. Larkspur. 
Grandiflomm, &c. 

DiANTHus. Pink. 
Barbatus, chinensis, fimbriatusj plumarius, &c. 

Epilobium. Willow-herb. 
Alpinum, &c. 

Althea. Hollyhock. 

Rosea. 

Chrysanthemum, Gold-flower. 
Coronarium, &c. 

Hypericum. St.-JoHN's-woRT. 
Ascyron, pyramidatum, &c. 

Lobelia. Lobelia. 
Assurgens,fulgensj splendens, cardinalis, siphilitica, &c. 

MONARDA. MONARDA, 

Didyma, fistulosa, rugosa. 

OxALis, Wood-sorrel. 
Violacea, &c. 

Phlomis. Phlomis. 

Gigantea, &c. 

RUDBECKIA. RuDBECKIA. 

Hirta, purpurea. 

Sarracena, Side-saddle flower. 
Flava, purpurea. 



288 



BORDER FLOWERS. 



Scutellaria. Scull- cap. 



Albida, &c. 



Helunthus. Sun-flower, 



Atrorubeus, &c. 



Rhexl\. Bhexl\. 



Mariana, virginica. 



Spigelia. Worm-grass. 



Mar34andica. 



Chrysanthemum. Gold-flower. 



ludicum. 

This is only a half-hardj' border plant, requires to be 
kept in pots, and nursed in a frame or house to get it to 
flower before frost sets in. They are propagated by slips 
taken off in March, by cuttings in May, or by laj-ers in 
August. The first make tall and strong plants, but the last 
make the most handsome and bush}'. Large flowers are 
obtained by thinning the flower-buds, i. e. all the secon- 
dary- buds are pruned off. Such as flower in a cluster 
should he thinned more sparingly; the Superb Cluster 
Yellow, for instance, should be allowed to shew its cha- 
racter. Gar, Mag. 

The following annuals and perennials are among the 
newest and most valued flowers for borders, &c. viz. 

Clarckia pulchella Chelone rosea 

Schizanthus porrigens Phlox odoiata 

Gillia capitata Carolina 

GEnothera tenella Viola nepaulensis 



triloba 



Pironia lutea 



speciosa 

Lindleyana 

Polemonium siberica 
Lupinus pollyphilla 



Trillium grandifiorum 
Scilla peruviana alba 



caerulia 

Lillium Longiflorum 



TULIPS. 



289 



Calceolaria corymbosa 
Collinsia grandifiora 
Mimiilis lutea rivalis 



Phyteuma orbiculata 
Tigridia oxypetala 
Lopezia coronata 



Petunia nyctaginifolia Erythrina crista galli * 
Polentilla Russelliana 

* This plant, formerly treated as a stove exotic, is now 
found to stand our winter, by covering the roots. The 
stems are killed, but new ones rise in the spring, and flower 
in autumn. 



MOST ESTEEMED SORTS OF BULBS, &c. 



No. a— CATALOGUE 



OF THE 



NOW IN THE TRADE. 



TULIPS. 



Fine Incomparable Verports. 



Amazone 

Artificielle 

Bienfaisante 

Blondeau 

Briseis 

Bruno 

Daphne 

Favourite 

Florida 

Graaf van Buuren 

Hebe 

Helena 

Jolanda 



Juweel 
La Fidelle 
La Plus Belle 
Nouveau 
O! 

Phillida 

Pomona 

Premier Noble 

Super be 

Tendresse 

Trianon 

Voorhelm 



Fine Cherry and Rose. 



Amadis 
Andromache 
Antoinette 
Aibre de Diane 
Bacchus 



Brulante Eclantante 
Cassandra 
Catalani 
Catherine 

Cerise a Belle Forme 



V 



290 



BULBS, ike. 



Cerise extra 

de Maroc 

primo Faquette 

Claudiana 

Compte de Virgennes 
Comptesse de Maroc 

Marsaii 

Dodona 
])omingo 

Duchesse de Clarence 

Fleiir de Dames 

Grand Rose Imperial 

Hebee Superfine 

Iphigenia 

Julia 

Juno 

Fine 

Abdalonimus 

Adelaide 

Albicore 

Ambassadeur d'Hollande 
Belle Actrice 
Black Baguet 
Blanche Violet 
Caffee Brule 
Caroline 

Chateau de Bruxelles 

Comptesse de Gand 

Constantia 

Czarine 

Desdemona 

Desiderata 

Duchesse de Parme 

• Tuscany 

Wellington 

Ehzabeth 
Eminent 

Favorite de Viscour 
Gadsby's Magnificent 
Grotius 
Holmes's Ring 
Hugobert 
Inapproachable 
La Belle Perfection 
Princesse 



L' Admirable 
Lady Exeter 
Lelat en Cerise 
Lord Colchester 
Hill 

L'Ornament de Pare 
Madame Gyzelaar 
Manon 
Maria Louisa 

Theresa 

Matilda 
Monsieur Pit 
Perle Brilliante 
Rose Mignonne 

Monti 

Walworth 

BiBLOMENS. 

Laomedon 

Laura 

Livia 

Lord Hawke 
Maitre Partout 
Moreau 

Mountain of Snow 

Prince Regent 

Queen Charlotte 

Reine d'Egypte 

Respectable 

Roscius 

Rubens 

Scipio 

Sophia 

Titania 

Titian 

Translucent Noir 
Transparent Noir 
Triomphe de Monde 
Violet Alexander 

Blondeau 

Indiana 

Ly Sander 

Ma Favorite 

Remarkable 

Virginia 
Wade's Ring 



TULIPS. 



291 



Fine Bizards. 



Abaddon 
Abercrombie 
Archduc Charles 
Baar-s Wellington 
Belle Financia 
Bernadotte 
Bizard Eclatante 
Britannicus Nova 
Captain White 
Cardinal 
Catafalque 
Cato 

Charbonnier Noir 
Commandant 
Conquest adore 
Debonnaire 
Demetrius 
Duke of Clarence 
Emperor of Austria 
■ — Russia 



Estime 

Franklin's Washington 
Gaucola Rectified 
Globe 

Gloria Mundi 
Grand Berger 
Heroine 

King of Prussia 

Languedoc 

Leopoldina 

Masonia 

Milo Superbe 

Mirabeau 

Ophir 

Othello 

Pizarro 

Polyphemus 

Pont d'Arcole 

Prince Leopold 

Rembrandt (veiy fine) 



EARLY TULIPS FOR FORCING. 



Agatha Royal 

Violet 

Aurora 

Beaute parfaite 
Belle Dorothea 
Claremont 
Due Van Thol 



Globe de Rigo 
Golden Sceptre 
Grand Blanche 
Imperator 
Isabelle 
Monument 

Sweet-scented Florentine 



DOUBLE TULIPS. 



Amiable Violette 
Belle Blanche 
CafFee Brun 
Couleur de Feu 



Gloriosa 
Monstreuse 



Couronne Imperial 

Pourpre 

CEdipus 



Parrot Tulips. 
Perfecta 



u 2 



292 



No. 4.— HYACINTHS. 



Double Reds, various shades. 



Augustus Rex 
Boerhaave 
Bmidskleed 
Catherine Victorieuse 
Delices des Flores 

de Printems 

Diademe de Flore 
Flos Sanguineus 
Glorious Superbe 
Goudheurs 
Groot Vorste 
Henri Quatre 
Josephine 



Locke 
Louis Seize 
Madame Zoutman 
Maria Louisa 
Regina Ruberorum 
Rex Ruberorum 
Rouge Blouatre 
Joli 

pourpre et noir 

Roxana 
Tamerlane 
Velours rouge 
Waterloo 



Double Whites. 



Admiral Zoutman 
Alamode 
Anna Maria 
Coeur Amiable 

Noir 

Comptesse d'Holland 
Dea Florum 
Don Gratuit 
Due de Berri 

Valois 

Elise 

General Washington 
Gloria Florum 
Suprema 



Graaf Bentinck 

Grand Blanche Imperial 

Monarque 

Jeanette 
Minerva 

Og Roi de Basan 
Prins van Waterloo 
Reine de Prusse 
Staatin General 
Sultan Achmet 
Supreme Alba 
Venus 

Vicomtesse de Rhoaoult 
Virgo 



Double Blues. 



Alamode 

Bouquet constant 

Bucentaurus 

Buonaparte 

Commandant 

Compte de St. Priest 

Directeur von Flore 



Due D'Angouleme 

Endragt 

Envoy e 

Globe Terestre 

Gloria Mundi 

Helicon 

Jupiter 



HYACINTHS. 



293^ 



Incomparable Azure 
Kroon van Indian 
L'Amitie 
L'Importante 
Lord Wellington 
Mignon de Dryfhauht 
Mon Bijou 



Monsieur 
Nigritienne 
Noir Veritable 
Pasquin 

Passe non plus ultra 

Tout 

Sertorius 



Double Yellows. 



Bouquet d'Orange 
Grand Alexander 
Jaune Neapolitane 



La Pure d'Or 
Louis d'Or 
Ophir 



Amiable Rosette 
Cornelia 
Grootmiester 
La Victorieuse 
L'Eclair 



Single Reds. 



L'Eclatante parfait 
Lord Wellington 
Paix d'Amiens 
Piramide Royale 
Richesse de Fleurs 



Single Whites. 



Emilius 

Grand Vainquer 

Hercules 

La Candeur 



Premier Noble 
Prince de Galetzin 
Staaten General 
Thais 



Single Blues, 



Achilles 
Appius 
Crepuscule 
Emicans 



General Hoche 
Konig's Mantle 
La Grand Vidette 
La plus Noir 



Single Yellows. 

Adonis La Majesteuse 

CroBsus La Pluie d'Or 

Jupiter Prins van Orange 



294 



No. 5.— POLYANTHUS NARCISSUS. 

Bazelman Major L'Etoile d'Or 

Belle Liegeoise Luna 

Bouquet Royale Primo Citroniere 

Czar de Muscovie Soliel d'Or 

Grand Monarque Zeelander 



No. 6.— ANEMONES. 



Blue and White-striped. 



Belle Afrique 


La Princesse 


Amasia 


Marmuntelle 


' Amerique 


Passe Gravita 


Glodine 


Salamander 


Cambray 


Pavilion 


Celestina 


Primaat 


Compte d' Albemarle 


Princesse de Conti 


Cotonne 


Pronk Juweel 


Emperor 


Pure Blanche 


Eveque de Cologne 


Purpure Pi ret 


Gloria 


Reine de France 


Mundi 


Ruban^ blue 


Grisdaline Superbe 


Sandre 


Grisetta 


Sertorius 


Incomparable Azure 


Syrinx 


Indigo 


Triomphe Columbine 


Jasper Grisdaline 


Walworth 


Le Januaire 




Red and 


White-striped. 


Agathe Incomparable 


Castor 


Sanspareil 


Cedo nulli 


Archelaus 


Comble de Gloire 


Argentina 


Emaillee 


Bardonia 


La Pucelle 


Bartholeraine 


Manteau Corail 


Belli sarins 


Marmara 


Bizard Oriflamm^ 


Port 1 audi a 


Blanche H<ivite 


Quatricolor 


Jaunatre 


Reme d'Anemones 


Caracalla 


Triomphant 



295 



No. 7.— RANUNCULUSES. 

White, and White-spotted, or edged. 



Agreeable 

Andrew 

Argus 

Benjamin 

Deborah 

Doctor Franklin 

Eliza (spotted) 

Elizabeth 

Endon 

Estime 

Faustina 

Florence 



Fulvius 
Garricola 
Juliet 
Louisette 

Pourpre Pannachee 
Princess Charlotte 

of Wirtemberg 

Pucella 
Suprema 
Tendresse 
Venus 



Red and White-striped or edged. 



Cremona 
Curion 

Flagellie a quatre coleurs 

Grand Prior 

La Teineraire 

Madelice 

Nouvelle 



CEillet due 

Pierre le Grand 

Princess Charlotte Augusta 

Rhododendron 

Rose Flamme 

True Merit 



Red and Yellow-striped. 



Celadon 
Coquelicot 
Earl of Errol 
Favorite Superbe 
L'heureux hazar 



Marbre de Paris 
CEillet parfaite 

Superbe 

Quel bonheur 
Togo Pieta 



Dark and Dark-purple. 



Achilles 

Adolphus 

Bon Financier 

Charbonnier 

Condorset 

Coronnax 



Diademe pourpre 
Duke of Kent 
Eveque d'Ipres 
Fleur de Canelle 
Manteau Noir 
Maximilian 



296 



TUBERS, &c. 



Light, Purple^ and Gkev. 



Be ante frapp ante 
Bleuatre 
California 
Duke of Sussex 
Earl of Bath 
Egrillarde 



Electrice 
Germanicus 
Habite Veloute 
Nomius 
Portia 

Roi de Perou 



Crimson. 



Arlequin de Vienna 

Domitrean 

Earl of Hardwicke 

Gimn's Crimson 

Henriette 

Hyperion 



Lentidrides 

Persicaria 

Trajan 

William Pitt 

Xanthus 

Zebulon 



Red. 



Adonis 
Alphonso 
Bourgogne 
Caeda nulli 
Heliotrope 



Joinville 
MoUeure 
Pizarro 

Quivedo, on yellow 
Tyrconnel 



Rosy, AND Rosy on White. 

Alpina 
Capricieux 
Coleur de Perle 
Colossus 
Cora 



Duchess of Wellington 
Juno 

Rose de Dames 
Stella 

Tillet's Blush 



Yellow, and Y 

Admiral des Fleurs 
Adrian 

Beaute Behemoth 

Jaune 

Beroth 
Cecil 
David 
Lennox 



EL LOW- STRIPED, OR EDGED. 

Lystra 
Ophir 
Pretiosa 
Prince Galitzen 

• WUliam V. 

Sappho 

Viscount Parker 
Tierney 



AURICULAS. 



297 



Orange. 



Amalaiic 
Amalthea 
Bavaroise 
Camella 



Emelius 

Feu Trioir.phant 
Orange Barban ^an 
Sesostris 



Admiral Howe 
Azorienne 
Carlos 
Desdemona 



Olive. 



Favourite 
Lord Stavendale 
Olive Pannachee 
Rubicon 



No. 8.— AURICULAS. 



Akerley's Alpine Shep- 
herdess 
Asworth's Man-of-War 
Barlow's Britannia 

~ King 

Morning Star 

Bearless's Superb 
Buckley's Jolly Tar 

Lady Wellington 

— • Lord Hood 

Chilcot's Brilliant 
Clegg's Black and Green 
Clough's Defiance 
Cockup's Eclipse 
Compton's Admiral Gardiner 
Cox's British Hero 
Dean's Regulator 
Dyson's Queen 
Galloway's Glory of Oldham 
Gorton's Champion 
Grime's Privateer 
Healey's Prince of Wales 



Hey's Lovely Ann 
Hoffley's Lord Nelson 
Hornsey Hero 
Hughes's Pillar of Beauty 
Kenyon's Ringleader 

Surprise 

Lady Blucher 
Laurie's Glory 
Lea's Venus 
Leigh's Colonel Taylor 
Moore's Jubilee 

Glory 

Oddy's Queen Caroline 
Pearson's Badajoz 
PoUet's Highland Boy 
Pott's Beauty of England 
Rider's Prince Waterloo 
Salter's Garland 
Schole's Mrs. Clarke 
Warre's Prince Blucher 
Wood's Lord Lascelles 



Crimson, Purple, and Yellow Selfs. 



Bury's Lord Primate 
Flora's Flag 
Nicholson's Venus 



Redman's Metropolitan 
Wild's General Lud 
— Star 



298 



No. 9 — POLYANTHUSES. 



Allen's Favourite 
Billingtori's Beauty 
Brooke's Duke of York 
Brown's King 
Darlington's Defiance 
Eckerley's Black and Gold 
Hardman's ditto, ditto 

Ranting Widow 

Park's Lord Nelson 
Pearson's Alexander 



Smith's Lady Nelson 
Stretch's King 
Tate's Prince Regent 
Thomas's Nelson 
Thompson's Lord Nelson 
Thorpe's Golden Fleece 
Turner's Prince of Wales 

Princess of Wales 

Yorkshire Prince Regent 



Double Polyanthsues. 



Double Crimson, and lilac, white, yellow and velvet 
Primroses. 



Cyclamen. 

Autumnale Album Persicum 

Coum Sweet-scented Autumnale 

Hederifolium 



COLCHICUMS. 



Agatha Variegatum Purpurium plenum 

Agrippinum Variegatum 

Album Variegatum plenum 

Crown Imperials. 
Rubro 

Folio Variegato 

Pleno 

Slaagswaard 
William Rix 



Kroon op Kroon 
Luteo Pieiio 

semplici 

Maximus 
Orange Sulphureo 



299 



No. 10.— CARNATIONS. 



Scarlet Bizards, viz. 



Arche's Sir Isaac Newton 
Ashtoii's Lord Castlereagh 
Banfield's Lord Nelson 
Costin's British Monarch 
Clegg's Colonel Bayley 
Davey's Royal Sovereign 
Falkner-s Sir W. Wallace 
Fellow's Burdett 
Gordon's Burdett 
Groom's Mars 
Handy 's Regent 
Harley's Waterloo 
Jupiter 

Manning's Glory 
Nottcutt's Nelson 

St. Vincent 

Pyke's Champion 
Rainbow 



Rawling's Salamander 
Sharp's Defiance 
Smith's Solomon 
Snook's Wellington 
Tomlinson's Augusta 
Walker's Calypso 

Duke of York 

Hero 

Marquis 

Monarch 

Patriot 

Waterhouse's Magnificent 

Rising Sun 

Syntax 

Weltjie's Goliah 

" Sir E. Pellew 

Wild's Perfection 



Pink and Purple Bizards. 



Buck's Lord Bagot 
Davey's Duchess of Devon- 
shire 

Hathersley's Freedom 
Hine's Duchess of York 
Lacey's Wellington 
Lady Grey 
Pyke's Eminent 
Smith's Fair Helen 



Walker's Buckingham 

Pilgrim 

Ward's Elizabeth 
Waterhouse's Summit of 

Perfection 
Weltjie's King George 

Nonsuch 

Wood's Lord Collingwood 



Scarlet Flakes. 



Asten's Hero 
Barnes's Nelson 
Chaplin's Abercrombie 
Clegg's George IV. 
Ely's Ranger 
Hall's Duchess of Kent 
Harley's Matilda 



Holden's Britannia 
Huffcon's Hobhouse 
Lacey's Queen 

Salamanca 

Lee's No. 159 
Meacham's Invincible 
Plummer's Waterloo 



300 



PINKS. 



Pi RPL 

Bate's Wellington 
Bruin's Marina 
Cornfield's Mrs. Robinson 
Dixon's Jane 
Fulbrook's Grenadier 
Kenney's Excellent 

Pink and 

Dixon's Fame 
Fletcher's Devonshire 
Hardman's Wellington 
Harley's Mrs. Clarke 
Hoyle's Beauty 
Lordon's Miss Blont 
Maddock's Maria 
Hogg's Galatea 

Paddington 

Queen 



E Flakes. 

Meacham's Maria 
Oddy's Henry Hunt 
Palmer's Defiance 
Phillip's Defiance 
Wood's Ambassador 



Rose Flakes. 

Pearson's Moira 
Plummer's Lady Hamilton 
Pyke's Lady Hamilton 
Rivier's Incomparable 
Rochdale Beauty 
Tate's Jubilee 
Tree Carnation, white 

Clove 

Walker's Fairy Queen 
Wood's Invincible 



No. II.— PINKS. 



Banbury's Lace 
Berkeley Hero 
Blencowe's No. 4 
Bray's Goliah 

Invincible 

Bury's Mrs. Clarke 
Church's King 
Clee's Lady Nelson 

Lord Nelson 

Clover's Invincible 
Collier's King 

Wonderful 

Coltson's Britannia 
Dakin's Burdett 

Colonel Lennox 

Davey's Britannia 



Davey's Defiance 

Duchess of Devonshire 

Eclipse 

Hero 

- — ^ — Miss Havard 

— Peele 

- — ■■ — Nelson 

■ — Nonpareil 

Sir T. Stanley 

• Venus 

Victorious 

Eagleton's Sovereign 
Field's Fair Phillis 
Ford's Seedling 
Golding's Seedling 
Greaves' s Gloriosa 



ROSES. 



301 



Green's Princess of Wales 
Groom's Duke of York 

George IV. 

Lord Shannon 

Trafalgar 

Waterloo 

Wellington 

Harcott's Seedling 
Harefield Beauty 
Harris's King 
Harrison's Rising Sun 
Hine's Queen 
Hopkins's Superb 
Humber's Regulator 



J(.^fTl'r3''s Beauty 
Keen's Wellington 
Haddock's Sir Sidney Smith 
Maffey's Royal Ann 

George 

Golden 

Maynard's Roseleaf 
Neighbour's Countryman 
Newman's Burdett 
Novey's Supreme 
Rook's Jupiter 
Scott's Dark Lace 
Windsor Confidant 



No. 12.— ROSES. 

CHIEFLY NEW SORTS. 



Amaranth 

Aurora 

Bishop 

Black Frizzled 
Blandford 

Blush Dwarf Cluster 

Early 

■ Hundred-leaved 

Imperial 

Brown's Blush 

Brunette 

Burgundy 

Cardinal 

Carmine 

Celestial 

Chancellor 

Dutch Carmine 

Crimson 

Hundred- leaved 

Early Blue 
Favourite Mignone 
Purple 



Grand Blanche Belgique 

Present 

Purple 

Great Maiden Blush 

Imperial Blush 

Infernal 

Leyden 

Lisbon 

Negro 

Nonpareil 

Royal Crimson 

Sanspareil 

Spongs 

Tuscany 

Pearson's Gigantic 
Pencilled Mignonne 
Plicate 
Pompadour 
Proserpine 
Provence New 

Dutch 

— Dwarf 



302 



ROSES. 



Provence Moss 

Scarlet 

White Moss 

Pinto 

Red Monthly 
Rosa Mundi 



Rose de Menx 

de Quatre Saisons 

Unique 

White Provence 
York and Lancaster 



FINIS. 



LONDON: 
Piiuted by William Clowes and Sons, 
Duke-Street, Lambeth. 



3477 ^ 



I 



J 

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: September 2012 

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